Elemental Switch
by PrincessFoxSpaceNinja
Summary: After Wu's students abandoned him on a flagpole, Lloyd was taken in by the masters of Form, Mind, Nature and Amber. After she was saved by Wu's students, Nya can't find her brother, who went missing in the attack. Everybody's elements are jumbled, but Wu's students still are the elements of fire, lightning, earth and ice.
1. The Tomb: Part 1

**This takes place after Lloyd was found hanging from the flagpole, at the start of the Serpentine season. The ninja aren't Wu's students, some other people are. Nya was saved b _y_ the other ninjas, which is why she's not living with the guys.** _ **  
**_

* * *

 _ **Lloyd**_

Lloyd had no idea who these people were or why they helped him, but they were nice to him, which was not something he could say of his uncle's students, who hanged him from the flagpole by his cape and mocked him, despite the fact that he was eight and alone and they were much older than him.

The guy who got him down by making a tree bend over and gently put him down was making something that smelled like heaven after living of stuff people threw away for the past few months since he got thrown out of Darkly's School for Bad Boys.

Even if it _was_ vegetables.

"Wow, Zane! That smells great!" That was the guy with the weird collar around his neck and the two little studs in his one ear which was apparently some kind of device. He just walked in, holding a toolbox and a bag with something in it. "I can't wait to taste it!"

At first Lloyd thought the guy was some kind of punk and might be a little mean, but actually, he was pretty nice and talked a lot. Apparently, he could read minds and move things with his mind (he didn't do the latter as much), so Lloyd had to be careful about thinking about misbehaving around him.

Maybe.

This guy didn't seem to be the kind to get angry so easily. He sat down next to Lloyd and started tinkering with the stuff in the bag, getting zapped several times, and then joking about him replacing the Lightning Ninja on Wu's team.

Some guy named Ash.

"Morning Kai! Morning Cole!" The guy called out to the two newcomers in the room.

The one newcomer had covered all of his skin except his face with light orange clothing, while the other one was busy shapeshifting, turning into a wide array of people, before settling on looking like he did yesterday.

"Morning Jay," the shapeshifter greeted. "Zane. Kid."

Right. Lloyd didn't get the chance to introduce himself to these people yesterday, when they brought him to their secret hideout, an abandoned Serpentine tomb (Lloyd had no idea who released them) and put him to bed after a bowl of warm soup and a bedtime story from the guy who was covering all of his skin.

He had to learn their names and he had to tell them his. He didn't want to be called "Kid" forever.

The mind-reader next to Lloyd suddenly stared at him with a horrified expression. "I just realised something! We didn't introduce ourselves to each other yet!" He reached out his hand and shook Lloyd's hand. "I'm Jay Walker!"

"I'm Lloyd," Lloyd answered as he was being shaken by his new friend.

"Hello, Lloyd, I am Zane," the guy at the stove said, plucking some herbs from a nearby plant and putting them in whatever he was making.

"I'm Cole," the shapeshifter said, prying Lloyd from Jay. "You're going to break his arm off!"

"And I'm Kai," the guy who read him the story last night said.

Lloyd looked around the tomb. "This is a pretty weird place to live," Lloyd told them. "Isn't this a Serpentine Tomb? What happened to all the snakes?"

Cole rolled his eyes. "They're still here." That wasn't exactly comforting. "They let us live here because we unsealed their tomb and don't make a lot of noise."

Lloyd just became aware of the dark, snaky shadows moving along the walls. "They won't try to eat us, right?"

Kai shook his head. "No. Just…" Kai gestured to a dark cave Lloyd didn't see there before. "Just don't go in _there_."

Jay squealed, holding up something he was just done making. "Done!"

It was some kind of headband or something, but with several buttons and wires sticking out of it. Kai gave it a look of pure terror. "Jay, what's that thing for?"

Jay pulled a flash drive out of his pocket and dangled it around in front of Kai. "It goes with this!"

"And what is it supposed to do?" Kai asked, backing away slowly.

"Well, you know how you sometimes have trouble with your memories because of your powers?"

"Yes, I know how I sometimes have trouble with my memories because of my powers."

"Well, if you just put the headband on, and if I put the drive in my collar, then it will be easier to help without accidently turning you into a vegetable." Jay turned to Lloyd. "Like a carrot. Or a comatose person."

Cole made a face of disgust. "Please tell me there isn't any carrots in the food, Zane."

Zane shook his head. "No, Cole. We're all out."

Jay started staring at Cole, who stared right back.

Lloyd watched them. "Are you having a staring contest?" He asked.

Cole seemed to think so, but when he was lifted off his chair by an invisible force and put on top of the fridge, he was proven wrong and started yelling at Jay to put him back, despite Kai and Zane's begging for him to stop, lest he "wake the snake".

Jay didn't get Cole down. It was Zane, who used a nearby potted plant to get him down.

"Well, I have to get to work," Jay said cheerfully, running upstairs to the outside, crabbing a set of keys as he ran.

"So you guys have jobs?" Lloyd asked. He didn't want to be left alone on the creepy snake-tunnels.

Zane nodded. "We do all kinds of jobs around the village where we found you."

"Like gardening," Cole said with a smirk, which led to the lavender plant above the sink grabbing him around the ankles and twirling itself around him like a cocoon. "Hey, let me out of here!"

"Yes, like gardening," Zane told Lloyd. "And we also help with the harvest every now and then, and sometimes, when we get word from our regular employer, we go to the city and do whatever he or she needs us to do."

Kai started stabbing the lavender with a steak knife from the drawer to get Cole out. "Cole, wiggle if you can hear me!"

The cocoon wiggled.

"So I'm going to be alone here all day?" Lloyd asked.

Zane shook his head. "No, of course not."

Cole's head poked out from a hole Kai managed to make. "Air! Sweet air!"

"You'll have the Serpentine to keep you company."

Kai smacked Zane on the shoulder. "Don't tell him that! He's obviously scared of them!"

"I don't have work today, so what if I look after him?" Cole asked, pulling the little purple flowers from his black hair. "We can get him some new clothes in Ninjago City. He can't wear that all the time, after all."

The lavender retreated back into its pot and Zane gave everybody some of the weird stuff he made.

Now, when Lloyd was little, his mother used to take him shopping for clothes all the time, and he hated it. Then she went missing and he was forced to go to Darkly's School for Bad Boys.

And those trips ended.

And he started wishing that he could go on them with him mom again, even if it's just for one last time.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoy this! Please comment! Fanfic No. 3, thank you!**

 **Please be patient if my grammar isn't right, English is my second language.**


	2. Shopping with Cole

_**Cole**_

It may be the first time the leader of their little group had to have a young child with him who didn't look anything like him, but he wasn't stupid as to how it would look if somebody were to find him with Lloyd like that.

He changed his form into an older version of Lloyd, but slightly different too.

A few years ago, he might've accidently turned into a grandma with four arms and a tail, which would freak out a startled pizza delivery-boy, causing him to drop all the pizza he was supposed to deliver (Free Pizza!) and the place to refuse sending any more people to the place with the "demon-grandma", forcing them to have to get deliveries from another pizza franchise (Ninja Pizza), until Kai scared the poor guy by doing his "impression" of Samukai, which resulted in another free pizza, which was nice, but led to them having to beg Zane to make pizza whenever they wanted some.

Lloyd looked up in wonder as Cole's black hair became blond and his dark brown eyes became blue and changed shape and his entire facial structure changed, as did the rest of his structure.

"Wow, you look like me, but older!" The boy exclaimed.

Cole messed up Lloyd's hair as he laughed. "I know, kiddo. That's the whole point. I'm going to tell people that you're my brother or my kid or something, and this way, nobody will know I'm lying."

"It looks like everybody here has some kind of power, but I don't know what Kai does." Lloyd looked around to where Kai was getting dressed for work (he apprenticed at a blacksmith's shop) and putting his work-clothes on over the clothes he was wearing, because Kai couldn't have somebody touching him.

"Kai's powers are…" Cole paused to think of the right word to use. "Complicated. They mess with his memories. Jay helps as much as he can, but he won't risk removing the memories from before we met him, because we don't know which ones are actually his."

Lloyd was about to say something, but Cole pulled his skeleton hoodie off him, which led to some muffled screaming. His green shirt had to be removed too and Cole put one of Jay's shirts on him, because Jay was the smallest of them and his clothes would fit the small boy much better than anything the others owned.

"We'll wash that when we come back," Cole told Lloyd.

They had to take a bus, because Jay took the only car and Zane left with Kai on Kai's bike.

When they got off in the city, Lloyd got very excited and started dragging Cole all over the place, asking if they could go into various stores.

Cole would go with him, but he had to remind the boy that the money Cole had were for clothes, they would see if they could afford a toy or candy _after_ , because he and his friends piled the money they made together and they only got a certain amount to spend once a month.

Their mysterious employer would only pay them _after_ they did a job for him/her, and this strange person only send instructions via notes and text messages. Their money would be given to them in the way kidnappers were given ransom: a paper bag filled with money, hidden somewhere only they knew about. They were told about the job they were supposed to do through a tape recorder that would get delivered to them through the mail.

Cole finally got to a second-hand store where he and his friends got most of their things very cheaply.

As he and Lloyd browsed, an older couple came into the store, looking sad and carrying boxes of stuff inside.

They spoke in quiet, low tones, as if somebody had died, as they handed the box over to the woman behind the counter.

Cole snuck closer to hear what they were saying more clearly.

Apparently, the couple had a son who wandered off about a year ago.

"Maybe he'll come back," Cole suggested, but the woman sobbed and her husband held her, telling her that it was okay, and that he couldn't have known.

"Our son needed special care ever since he was ten," the man explained softly. "He can't take care of himself without help."

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea," Cole told the weeping woman and her gentle husband.

Lloyd inched closer to get a better look at what's inside the box, because apparently it looked good to eight-year-olds.

The woman stopped crying for long enough to smile at the boy. "Aw, your son is so adorable."

Cole looked at Lloyd, who was practically inside the box by now. "Thank you, Ma'am. And I'm sorry to hear about yours." He picked up Lloyd from inside the box and put him back on the floor. "I don't know what I'd do if Lloyd here goes missing."

The woman cooed at Lloyd while her husband gave the boy a pitying look.

Cole managed to find three pretty good shirts, four pairs of pants, a set of green pyjamas and a jacket for Lloyd while the poor kid had to deal with a strange woman crying and telling him all about her missing son, telling him not to wander away from his dad (Cole) while Lloyd nodded, not knowing what to say.

Cole paid and listened to the couple talking to each other.

They left after they were done donating, but Edna (the woman) first gave Lloyd a stuffed bear from the box and took out several other things, which she didn't want to give away, while her husband tried to convince her that it would be better for her if she just gave it up.

"Quiet, Ed!" Edna yelled at him, before grabbing the entire box and running off, leaving behind an unsurprised cashier and a completely startled Cole and Lloyd.

"They come in all the time," the woman behind the counter told them. "They never _really_ leave anything."

Cole paid for the stuff and left the store with Lloyd.

"So, I've been wondering…" Cole looked down at Lloyd. "You got any family around to take care of you?"

Lloyd thought a little, but then he shook his head. "No. I don't know where my parents are and my uncle doesn't like me."

Cole sighed. "Okay. So you're staying with us, then."

Not that he disliked the kid (who looked very sad), it's just that they were also pretty much still kids and they only just met Lloyd. Jay told him (telepathically) that Lloyd was afraid of the Serpentine, and those snakes would walk or slither through their part of the tomb whenever they were going outside to bask in the sun or catch something to eat.

Just a week ago, one of the Serpentine invited them to watch a fight in the Slither Pit, and it wasn't at all unusual for something like that to happen.

"You don't like me either," Lloyd sighed. "You're just being nice and…"

"No, no, that's not it at all," Cole told him. "It's just, Jay noticed this morning that you don't seem very comfortable with the idea of living in a tomb full of snakes and we don't want you to be scared. We like you, you're a nice kid, but all in all, me and my friends, we're just kids ourselves, and we're still trying to figure out our powers."

"I can get used to the snakes! And I won't bother you!"

"Lloyd, we don't expect you to get used to the Serpentine overnight, and we won't mind if you bother us, but we're going to have to set up a couple of rules for you. I'm not being unreasonable, we all follow these rules, but I'm just going to make sure that you know them, okay? We have our rules for a reason and…" Cole trailed off. "We should be getting home."

* * *

 **Ed and Edna are still Jay's parents.  
**


	3. The Orgins of Samurai X

_**Nya**_

The day she was separated from her brother was one of the worst days of her life.

First of all, she was kidnapped by Samukai and his Skulkin, which led to her overprotective brother flying into a fit of rage, wielding one of the swords he made himself, and charging at the Skeleton King, screaming.

She watched helplessly as he was pushed and punched and pulled and kicked all over the place, until Samukai grabbed him by the bare arm, lifted her struggling brother up, laughed at his mortified face and threw him out of the speeding car while Nya screamed at him to stop over and over through the tears.

She could still hear the dull thud as Kai landed limply upon the rocks, and the sharp clang as Samukai threw the sword out as well, proclaiming it to be garbage as it landed right next to the unconscious body of her brother.

When she later asked where he was, where her brother was, the skeletons laughed and told her that maybe he was dead. One skeleton, the one who had the job of bringing her food and water, quietly told her that several Skulkin were sent out to see if they could find Kai's body to bring him back to life as one of their army, but he couldn't be found anywhere, so he might still be alive.

Then, when she brought it up to Garmadon one day, telling him that her brother would come save her, the kind skeleton who brought her food was replaced by someone else, who was much meaner and didn't do anything to be nice to her.

 _That_ skeleton kept telling her that her brother was dead, that nobody was going to save her and that they were going to kill her as soon as they stop needing her.

But then she was set free.

Saved by four complete strangers and their master, an old man named Wu.

As they left, she walked past a familiar, non-moving skeleton. The one who was kind to her. The one who told her that her somebody _would_ come and save her.

The ninjas told her that the skeleton was there when they came into the underworld to face Samukai, and the layer of dust over it told her that they were telling the dreadful truth.

She fell down right then and there, crying for the loss of her parents, her brother and the only person who was kind to her during her imprisonment, all which she felt were her fault.

The old man told the ninjas to let her mourn in peace.

Their leader, the girl who was red from her clothing to her hair, helped her to her feet when there were no more tears to give, telling her that she could come stay with them in their monastery to recuperate and wait for her brother to come get her, because the old man was going to write him a letter, explaining what happened.

She had to share her room with Skylor, the only girl of the group, who was excited to have another girl living with them, even if it was just for a little while, but still respected Nya's wishes to be left alone.

The letter was sent to her village, and a few weeks later, another letter came back, telling the old man that Kai didn't return to the village and that nobody had seen him since the kidnapping.

Nya, who started doing better since the first letter was sent, was devastated and would cry all the time, wondering if her brother was okay, snapping at Ash, the Blue Ninja, when he tried to cheer her up.

It's been almost a year since she's been kidnapped. It's been almost a year since the last time anybody heard from her brother. It's been three months since she's been rescued, and she often found herself wondering if Kai forgot about her. Maybe he didn't care anymore. Maybe he was eaten by cannibals living in the mountains.

She had no idea where he was.

"Morning, Nya," Karloff, the Black Ninja, greeted her when she sat down for breakfast, setting a plate down in front of her. "Good to see you out of room."

Griffin, the White Ninja, stopped chattering aimlessly at him and greeted Nya.

Nya mumbled a greeting to the two ninjas as she started poking around in her food, pushing the slightly burned bacon around in her plate.

Skylor came out of the bathroom, wearing her _very_ red hair in a ponytail, as usual, and smiled when she saw Nya sitting at the table next to Griffin.

"Good to see you up, Nya," Skylor told her. "How're you doing?"

Nya nodded. "Fine. I'm fine." She took a bite of the scrambled eggs, but it didn't taste like anything other than sand. Everything tasted like sand these days.

"Is there any news about my brother?" She asked when she felt like she couldn't eat anymore. "I know he's alive _somewhere_. They never found his body. He had to get up himself."

The three ninjas looked at each other with sad expressions as the fourth ninja, Ash, walked into the room, stretching as he walked. "So, I saw Sensei doing something _really_ weird when I walked past his room and I just have to say… Wow, who died?"

Four pairs of eyes turned to glare at Ash.

"Ash, maybe you and I should go out and see if we can find Lloyd," Griffin told his friend, pulling him out of the monetary by his arm. "And we'll keep an eye out for your brother," Griffin added, nodding to Nya as he left.

Ash complained the whole way out, trying to escape from Griffin's surprisingly strong grip, but he wasn't let go of at least until they reached their dragons.

"So, I've been thinking, maybe after Karloff and I are done training, maybe we can go see if maybe your brother went back home," Skylor suggested.

Nya shook her head. "He's not back home. Our neighbours would've let us know."

"So," Karloff said, sitting down at the table, "tell us about brother."

Nya smiled a little. Despite his loud, boisterous ways, Karloff was actually pretty nice.

"Kai was great. After our father vanished and our mom lost her _freaking mind_ , he took care of me." Nya looked down at her plate, which was still full except for a few missing bites. "He ran our blacksmith's shop and when Samukai kidnapped me, he ran after us." Her voice cracked a little as she finished speaking. "Samukai threw him off the truck as it was driving away, and I didn't see him since…"

Skylor comforted Nya while Karloff said something about fixing something and ran off.

"It's going to be okay, Nya. I'll bet that Kai's looking for you right this instant, and won't give up until he finds you. He'll swim every ocean in Ninjago, and he'll climb every mountain, until he finds you." Skylor smiled at Nya. "Trust me, he'll come and get you."

Skylor left to train with Karloff, leaving Nya behind with her thoughts.

Maybe Kai was looking for her. Maybe he wasn't.

But one thing was certain: Nya wasn't going to be a damsel in distress anymore. Not if she could help it.

She waited until everybody was out, looking for Lloyd or looking for any rogue skeletons, when she went to the armoury to retrieve some of the armour she knew Sensei Wu owned.

She knew the old man wouldn't miss any of this junk.

All it needed was some modifications. Now, where was that book on Samurais she borrowed from the library?

* * *

 **Just so you know, this file was saved on my computer under the name: Turkey. As in the bird. Weird, right? Especially since we don't go nuts for them around here and don't have Thanksgiving. Thank you for reading this, and please comment!:D!**


	4. Pythor: Part 1

_**Kai**_

Cole met Kai and Zane at the little coffee shop in the village where Jay worked, they almost didn't recognise him if it wasn't for Lloyd being next to him, holding a plastic bag which told him that they had gone out to buy some clothing, as Cole said he would.

Jay was extremely annoyed, if the telepathic groans and complaints told him and his friends anything.

And if he was reading his friends' faces correctly, they were hearing Jay in their heads too, complaining about the exact same things he was complaining about to Kai.

Lloyd was still new, so he didn't get linked up, which meant that he didn't understand why Kai, Cole and Zane would sometimes do their best not to laugh, and what they were trying not to laugh at.

Apparently, the Blue Ninja had come in, acted all rude to Jay, and then asked for a manager when Jay tried to defend himself. The manager then told Jay to make Ash (the ninja) a cup of free coffee, which Jay had to make himself.

Jay did it as he was asked, but he added salt for revenge.

Unfortunately, Ash liked it and asked for more, staying until his friend, the White Ninja, paid and dragged him out, saying sorry over and over again until they were out of sight.

And now Jay was afraid that the rude ninja would come in _every day_ and demand what Jay called "Revenge Gone Wrong", and Ash called "The Best Coffee Ever", which he didn't want to happen.

Customers started storming the place, because Ash mentioned the coffee on his Chirper account, and everybody wanted to try something that one of the saviours of Ninjago liked.

 _I've been making this crap all day! Why do people like this? Kai, slap Cole for me._

Kai didn't slap Cole for Jay, but a few seconds later, Zane did, startling Lloyd, Kai and Cole.

Cole turned around to glare at Jay, who was too busy to glare back.

Lloyd was amazed at all of the people coming in and out. "This place sure is busy," he told the guys. "Really, _really_ busy."

"It's not always like this," Cole told Lloyd. "Apparently the Blue Ninja likes something that Jay tried to ruin for him, and it didn't go well for him."

 _So Cole seems to think that we should keep Lloyd for a while. HOLY SHIT!_

Everybody at their table tried to get a better look at what got Jay so startled. Except for Lloyd, who tried to see what the others were looking at. Lloyd saw something before anyone else did. Kai started getting annoyed by the fact that he didn't see what the other customers, Lloyd and Jay were seeing.

 _So you don't see the Serpentine standing in the line?! I think that you may have forgotten that it's NOT normal for them to be in a human area! And it's not a Hypnobrai!_

Jay was right about that.

This snake was more of a purple colour, which the Hypnobrai didn't have, and an incredibly long neck, which was also unusual and it lacked the hood which was normal for the red-eyes snakes they knew and trusted as neighbours and close allies.

 _I don't think this guy is very nice, guys. We should get these people out of here before he gets hungry!_

"But Serpentine don't eat _people_ ," Cole argued out loud so the others wouldn't be left out of the loop.

 _I think there's a special exception for the guy who ATE every other Serpentine who was stuck in the tomb with him! If he did something like that to his own people, then imagine what he'll do someone else!_

"Good point," Cole answered, changing into a copy of the strange snake. "I'll distract him while you guys get everybody out of here."

Jay disconnected their telepathic link while Cole tackled the Serpentine, who was very clearly surprised to be tackled by someone, and also, someone who looks just like him.

Zane got Lloyd out of the shop, while at the same time, using his powers over plants to carry out several people who may have been more surprised about being grabbed by plants than the two (to their knowledge) Serpentine wrestling in the middle of the store.

Kai wrapped his scarf around his face to avoid making skin contact with anyone as they fled, and helped Zane get any panicking people out of there.

Jay helped the people who worked with him get out through the back entrance as fast as he could, falling down twice and getting thrown back by either Cole or the Serpentine. Kai wasn't sure.

Once everybody was out, except for Cole and that strange snake, Kai, Zane and Jay went back in to see if they could help in any way.

Sadly, they had no idea who was Cole and who was the strange snake and Jay refused to read either one of their minds, claiming that he wasn't going back into the head of that "psychopathic cannibal", and he couldn't know who was Cole without going into their minds first.

Zane, thankfully, had another idea, which meant that Kai wouldn't have to touch one of the fighting snakes in order to figure out who was who.

A nearby cherry tree broke through the glass of a nearby window, wrapping its branches around the snakes, separating them like two fighting toddlers.

"Which one's Cole?" Kai asked.

Both snakes waved their arms, saying that it was them. One of the snakes shot the other one an annoyed look.

Jay seemed to notice something which led to some mild panic prickling in Kai and Zane's heads.

When Kai looked around, he found that there was a floating chair in the middle of the room, just…

Floating.

 _You know that handy little trinket I have to wear so things don't randomly float like that? It broke._

Zane went over to check up on the trinket Jay was talking about, which was one of the little black studs he wore in his ear.

"Yes, it appears to be broken," Zane confirmed.

That wasn't good. If the little trinket that controlled Jay's telekinetic abilities was broken, then things might get randomly thrown all over the place. And not only things. People as well, and that would end badly if that were to happen right there and then.

 _I'm focusing on the chair. The chair is my friend. Hello, my chair friend. Chair. Chair chair chair. CHAIR!_

Jay looked very freaked out, staring at the chair was that of a person who couldn't imagine it being possible for a chair to start floating, despite it being him who was making it do so.

The cherry tree twitched a little as one of the two snakes turned into Cole, who dropped out of the tree and landed on his feet with catlike agility while everybody was amazed.

Just kidding.

He landed flat on his face and almost made Jay lose focus. The two others laughed at him, and when the strange snake tried to join in, he got glared at.

And a chair in the face, but that wasn't important.

When they left, Jay dragged the chair after him like a loyal dog while Lloyd was getting tired and had to be carried by Zane, because Cole was still trying to pick the purple scales off himself and Kai refused to carry him in fear of accidently touching the boy and instead, volunteered to carry Zane's branch, which had come from his improvised weapon of a cherry tree.

"Here boy, come on," Jay called out to his chair, pretending that it was an actual dog the entire time, all the way home.

* * *

 **Guess who accidently stole a freaking _chair_?!** **  
**

 **Well, it followed them home, so maybe it's okay? I don't know the ethnics of these kids of situations.**

 _Italics: Jay telepathicly speaking._


	5. The Tomb: Part 2

_**Skylor**_

"And you're telling me that you just _found_ him like this?!" Skylor asked the mayor of the tiny Ninjagoan village for the third time. She couldn't believe that a Serpentine (who was _supposed_ to be locked up in a tomb somewhere) would somehow get himself tangled up in the branches of a cherry tree, which had somehow _grown in_ through the windows of the only coffee shop in the village. The same one Ash said made such great coffee.

"Yes, missy. Strange thing, very strange thing."

Skylor had the feeling that the man was hiding something from her. "Are you sure?"

The mayor nodded fiercely. "Yes, yes! It's a very strange thing!"

"But how did the shop get destroyed so fast?" Skylor pestered. She had a feeling that if she kept going, the man would eventually break and confess, which happened, but Skylor knew that he was just saying it to get her off his back.

"Okay, okay. I confess. I confess. This village, it is protected." The mayor started speaking in a hushed tone. "Many years ago, a witch who was one of the first people to live here, made it so that the trees attack all who come with evil thoughts. Sometimes, they get turned into snake-people as well, and chairs start flying and come to life, attacking those who dare be evil here."

An old woman stepped up from the crowd. "It's true! And then, when it doesn't stop them from being bad, these four spirits come and beat the snot out of them!"

Skylor turned to the old woman. "Okay, can you describe these spirits?"

A smallish boy spoke up. "The one, he looks like the snake, but bigger and meaner, and they say, he can throw a person as easily as my daddy can break a toothpick!"

"And there's this other one," the boy's rather muscular father added, "who is all wrapped up in bandages, but red, and he has all these knives, which he throws all over the place!"

"Don't forget about the one who makes the trees wake up," an old man said, right before a nearby tourist could say anything. "They say, he's part tree."

The manager of the coffee shop grunted. "And there's the tiny one, who can see into your thoughts and who puts salt in the coffee, apparently."

Now Skylor was certain that these people were hiding something.

And even more so when one of the tourists spoke up. "There were no spirits, Miss Ninja. They were just kids."

"And those kids aren't here to save you this time!" The Serpentine hissed behind them, breaking off his twiggy chains and reaching out to take a great, big bite out of Skylor.

He was stopped by Karloff throwing a boulder at him, which led to a look of realisation coming over the snake's face before he fled into the icy snow in front of them.

Skylor stared after him, glaring the whole way, happy that he was gone, she heard the shocked and almost angry voices of the villagers yelling at the snake to come _back_.

"Miss Ninja?" a little girl asked, tugging on Skylor's shirt, "is the snake going to eat those people who saved us?"

Skylor got down on eye-level of the girl. "What do you mean, sweetie?"

"They live out there, and the snake is going there," the little girl answered meekly. "And the snake was going to eat us, but it can't do that with you here, because you're brave too, just like the nice people who saved us, right?"

Skylor doubted that there were any people living out there, in the icy wasteland where the little girl was pointing, and she had no idea what the girl was talking about, but if there really _were_ people living out there, then it would be a bad idea to let this snake go after them.

"I suppose that we could check," Skylor told the girl as she hopped on her dragon and called the guys over to follow her into the cold.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea, Sky?" Griffin asked as his dragon caught up with hers. "These people fought that scary monster. _And won_. And if they're really spirits, then they won't even get hurt."

"I don't like spirits!" Karloff added as his unruly dragon tried to throw him off. "Bad Rocky!"

"From the sounds of things, these "spirits" are just kids," Skylor countered. "We should go check up on them, just in case."

"We're just kids too, Sky, and we're doing just fine," Ash told her. "We should turn back."

"Or not. I think we're here," Griffin told the gang when he found strange markings on the ground, which reminded Skylor of the Serpentine Tombs her father was so obsessed with before he vanished. "See? There's an entrance."

Griffin was right. The tomb was unsealed.

Four dragons came down for landing as soon as they were above the entrance of the tomb.

"This is the Tomb of the Hypnobrai," Skylor told the others. "It's been said that they can control your mind just by staring into your eyes."

"You're kidding, right?" Griffin asked. "They can't really do that, it's just a legend."

"Only one way to find out," Skylor told him and walked down the stairs, which seemed relatively new compared to the rest of the tomb.

She lit her hand on fire to get a better look of the place, when a little voice spoke inside of her head.

 _Skylor Chen, leave this place or face your doom._

Skylor ignored the voice as part of her imagination and moved onward, calling the rest of her team down after her. It was surprisingly warm down there, and Griffin commented on it.

Then he suddenly looked very frightened. "Did you guys hear that?"

Everything was quiet as they listened for whatever it was that Griffin heard, but there was nothing.

"It's your imagination, Turner," Ash told him, pushing past him as Karloff made the exact same complaint.

Ash was well ahead of them, and needed light, so he lit up his fist with lightning and vanished into the tunnels.

Then he screamed.

All three of them forgot their fears and ran in the direction where they saw him vanish into.

When they got there, they saw quite the fearsome sight.

Someone (human) had a knife against the throat of Ash, holding him very tightly. This person had everything covered but their eyes, and they seemed ready for the kill.

"My friend warned you lot to get out, or else," the person (possible male) growled at them. "Now, if you _don't_ leave, you will find out what he was talking about."

Griffin tried to reach for his friend, but it only made things worse, because now there was a thin line of red coming from Ash's throat.

"Come closer, that'll just make my day," the guy told them with a sadistic tone in his voice.

Griffin took a couple of steps back as the guy kept glaring at them all with vicious, yet familiar brown eyes. Eyes that looked a lot like Nya's. Just like Nya's.

"Kai?" Skylor whispered, hoping that maybe it was true, and that he would want to see his sister, who missed him dearly and thought that he was dead, or forgot about her. The stranger's eyes went wide in shock when he heard her. That gave her an opening. "Kai, I'm a friend of your sister. She wants to see you."

She stepped closer, her arms reaching out to try and get her friend, and her other friend's brother, out of these cursed tunnels and maybe see Nya smile for once. As in, actually _smile_. Form real happiness.

But something went wrong. The guy who might be Kai noticed that she had come closer, and when somebody with a hostage doesn't get what he wants, it's the hostage who gets hurt, as Skylor found out at that very moment.

"You just made my day, you little liar." Ash was thrown at Griffin with enough force to throw the White Ninja into the wall behind him. "My sister's dead, and if you don't leave right this instant, your little blue friend will join her."

When he spoke next, Skylor got the chills, which had nothing to do with the cold. It reminded her of her father, before he left Ninjago when she was just a little girl.

"Now, leave before you're next."

He vanished into the shadows, leaving Skylor behind to see Griffin taking off his scarf and holding it against Ash's throat to stop the rapid bleeding.

Karloff carefully picked up the Blue Ninja as not to jumble him too much, and they left the tomb like that, deciding that maybe they should just let these guys get eaten by the purple Serpentine.

Then the little voice came back.

 _I'm so sorry. I don't know what got into him. He's not really like that, I swear._

Skylor shook her head to get the little voice out of her head. It sounded so sad, but it still sent that crazed killer after her and made it kill her friend.

 _He's not really like that. He's not a killer. I swear._

Skylor couldn't tell Nya about this. It would break her.

 _I swear. He's not…_

The little voice trailed off as the four of them flew home as fast as they could, hoping that Sensei would be able to help Ash before he died. Because as annoying as he was, he was still her friend, and she would hate to see him dead. It was her fault.

* * *

 _Italics: Jay using Telepathy  
_

 **Skylor's going on a little trip.  
**

 **A guilt trip. Sorry, couldn't resist. Please comment! :D**


	6. Training

_**Nya**_

Nya was snapped out of her intense study of samurai history and fighting styles when the ninjas came back on their dragons.

Karloff came running inside, holding Ash, who had something bright red pressed against his throat.

At first, she thought it was a piece of Skylor's outfit, but she was proven wrong when Skylor jumped down from her dragon wearing her entire outfit. Griffin, however, was missing his scarf.

"Oh no," Nya gasped when the realisation hit her. She ran over to Skylor. "What happened? Is he okay?!"

The older girl didn't seem to hear her. Griffin was too busy running for Sensei, screams of "Wu! Wu!" filling her new home until the old man finally answered.

After that, there were low voices, as if somebody was dying.

Or already dead.

Nya was on the other side of Ash's closed door, listening to Skylor tell the old man something, which he told Skylor would have to stay between the two of them.

Kai never kept secrets from her. Unlike these people. Unlike them, Kai would immediately tell her if something was going on.

When she was sad, Kai would be the one to hold her and comfort her. When she had nightmares, he would stay in her room the whole night. She remembered when they were little, shortly after their father disappeared and when their mother started losing her mind, how she would go sleep with Kai when their mom would start whispering to herself.

When their mom got worse, she would start screaming at times, exclaiming that everything was "wrong" and sometimes, the woman would whisper that Kai was "next". And when Kai started shaking and telling her that he wouldn't go crazy like her, she would giggle and tell him that he didn't have a choice. He was "next".

At times, when their mom was calmer, she would pull her children on her lap and say sorry for everything, and when Kai had gone to bed, she would make Nya promise to not get mad at Kai for something that couldn't be helped, and that she would take care of him, just like they were taking care of her.

One day, their mom just left and never came back, leaving behind two notes, one for Kai, telling him to take care of her, and one for Nya, telling her not to get mad at Kai for things that couldn't be helped.

Kai told Nya that he would _never_ end up like their mom. That he wouldn't leave her. That he would always make sure that she was safe.

And now, he wasn't there anymore and one of the people who saved her was fighting for his life on the other side of the door.

Griffin sat down next to her, looking at the ceiling as if he was hoping that it would say something to him.

She shifted and looked up as well. "What happened?"

"We got called in to capture a Serpentine and take it back to its tomb, but when we got there, it was already caught. Nobody would tell us what exactly happened until it escaped." Griffin sighed. "We chased it, because it was going after some people who lived nearby. We found the Hypnobrai Tomb. It was unsealed."

"No…"

"We couldn't find any snakes, so maybe they already got out? I don't know. But anyway, Ash wandered off. He got caught by somebody who was living there." Griffin looked at Nya, her face reflecting in his sunglasses like they were a pair of mirrors. "This person, he took Ash hostage. He told us to step back, or else. We didn't step back. We found out what he meant. We had to leave, or else Ash would've died. He still might, but his chances are better out here than in a cave in the middle of nowhere."

The door slammed open behind them, resulting in Skylor running out of the room, calling for medical help while Sensei stayed behind to keep Ash alive for as long as he could.

Griffin got up and pulled Nya to her feet as well. He took her to the garden where Skylor would meditate in the mornings.

"Griffin?" Nya looked around. "What's going on?"

"Nya, Skylor thinks this guy might have something to do with your brother." Griffin looked around to see if anybody was listening in on their conversation. "She asked us not to tell, but you deserve to know. He's alive."

Nya had a terrible feeling that if the person who slit Ash's throat like that had her brother, then it wouldn't end well for him. Unlike her, Kai's only experience fighting would be when he got his butt kicked by Samukai and when he was trying to get some overexcited customers to calm down.

"Thanks for telling me this," Nya told him. "It's the best news I've hears since we got separated."

Somehow, it was the truth.

And now, Nya had someone to test out her new armour on once she was finished with it. If this person was the reason Kai wasn't there, the reason Kai was lost… She. Would. Make. Them. Pay.

"No problem," Griffin told her. "Just don't do anything you might regret, okay?"

Nya nodded, but she knew for a fact that she wasn't going to regret this.

She was going to train so hard that steam came off her, and then she was going to train some more, until she could save her brother.

And she _was_ going to save her brother.

Once the ninjas were gone with Wu to be with Ash, Nya was back in her books.

She wasn't going to stop until she had her brother back, no matter what anyone else said. Even if one of the ninjas told her that it was too dangerous, she wouldn't give up.

But she didn't want them going out of their way to protect her.

First things first: Finding a helmet.

 **The Samurai helmet is called a Kabuto.**

Nya looked up from her book. She would have to find herself a Kabuto in Sensei's closet of junk before the others came back.

She found several odd pieces of armour in the closet.

There was one that looked like it was made of shadows. There was one that stayed suspended mid-air when she threw it back because she didn't like it.

And then there was one that looked like something she could faintly remember her mother wearing when she was little.

It took much longer than she thought, but she finally found the perfect helmet to go with the armour she was working on.

All it needed was some modifications.

* * *

 **Bold: A book or anything that is being read.  
**

 **Griffin used Calming Presence! It failed!**

 **Please comment, I like reading them. Sorry for the short chapter.**


	7. Kidnapped!

_**Jay**_

It's been about three months since the incident with the Serpentine and the ninja who got stabbed in the throat by Kai, which led to the five of them being kicked out, because the Hypnobrai now had to find a new home because Kai stabbing the Blue Ninja meant that the ninjas might come back for revenge.

They still didn't have a home and they had to leave behind everything that they didn't need or couldn't carry along without it looking weird.

They had to leave behind their photos, their fridge, their car and all of Zane's plants, which left him complaining out loud for the first few days, until he decided that it would be kinder to the others if he just complained inside his own head.

Unfortunately, that meant that while the others were spared from his whining, Jay wasn't.

It was really affecting Jay's mood, as he learned when he snapped at Cole when their leader wanted to know if he wanted some scrambled eggs (Kai stole three of them from some kind of ostrich that morning) and started yelling at him, which he didn't stop doing until the next morning, when Jay got up before dawn and tried to catch a falcon that was roaming around for breakfast.

When he did, Zane told him off and let the falcon go, but now it was following them.

"It's endangered, Jay," Zane told him. "We can't eat an endangered falcon."

"Besides, their meat is tough," Kai added, scratching the bird with a gloved hand. "Tough and tasteless."

Everybody turned to stare at Kai with expressions of varying shock.

"Whoa there, little guy," Kai told the bird when it opened its beak to try and bite him, "I'll bite back."

"So, are we going to keep him?" Lloyd asked from Cole's shoulder as he carried the young boy.

It's been a while since the falcon joined their group and it caused the complaining in Jay's head to stop, because Zane liked the bird and so did everybody else, even if they were worried that Kai might actually bite it.

It wasn't as if Kai never bit something before. In fact, when the five of them met with some bandits in the jungle who attacked them, and their leader grabbed Kai, thinking that he was just a _little_ more helpless than Lloyd (who was hitting his men with a stick), he bit off the man's thumb.

They didn't find out until after the bandits ran away and Kai spat it out while Lloyd was taking a nap as not to mentally scar the poor boy.

"We kept you," Kai joked.

"And we kept Kai," Cole added, changing his legs into a Serpentine tail after the fourth time he almost tripped and dropped Lloyd. "If somebody were to see us right now, they'll definitely freak out."

Jay didn't disagree, watching Cole slither over some roots and dead trees as if they weren't there.

The rest of them just had to go under the tree (sometimes it was good being the short one of their group) or over it (sometimes it wasn't good being the short one of their group) with their legs.

Morning had turned to noon by the time the five (sorry, six) of them decided to rest a little.

Cole brought back his legs and helped Zane make a nice basket-bed-thing out of the vines for Lloyd to take a nap in, because they'd been walking all day and Lloyd was tired, which was why Cole had to carry him in the first place.

Jay knew that Kai would've offered to carry Lloyd if he could, but considering the way his powers worked, it could be dangerous.

At the moment, Kai was trying and hilariously failing to untangle their rope while Jay was putting down the chair from the coffee shop, which he dragged along for the past three months (he refused to sit on the ground) and named Sir Chairsalot.

It wasn't Lloyd who named the chair. Why do you ask?

Jay snorted.

He didn't know _how_ , but Kai somehow got himself tied up and couldn't get out.

"It's not funny, Jay," Kai growled at him. "Let me out."

Jay looked around. Cole and Zane had left and were now looking for food, so they couldn't help. And Jay wasn't sure he could untie Kai without making things worse. If he used his telekinesis, Kai might get torn apart or strangled due to his lack of practice. And if he used his hands, the most unstable person in their group might get Jay's powers and that would end _very_ badly.

"I'm sorry," Jay told his friend. "We have to wait for Zane to come back. He's the only one who can untie you without touching you."

Kai sighed. "Okay."

"Hey, would it be okay if I messed around in your head while you're like that?" Jay asked, pulling Sir Chairsalot closer to Kai. "I need the practice, and you can't run away."

Kai grumbled a little before letting out a loud sight. "Okay. But you better not mess around with anything important!"

"I won't do that!" Jay argued. "I'm just going to see if I can find any of your real memories!"

Kai stopped wiggling and waited for Jay to turn off his collar, which would allow him full access to his telepathic powers, thus, making it easier for him to poke around Kai's memories.

Unfortunately, it would also lower Jay's awareness to his surroundings, allowing him to be taken by surprise more easily.

Both of them were vulnerable. The world blurred around Jay as he heard the minds of everybody around him. From the animals, to his friends, to the falcon, to somebody who was flying around in a giant Samurai mecha with aggressive thoughts.

It would be very hard for Jay to do anything if they were attacked, and Kai needed to relax for this to work.

Speaking of Kai, Jay managed to put all of his focus on the tangled-up teenager in front of him.

 _Okay Kai, I'm moving in. You'll feel a light prickle in your head, but it's harmless._

Kai twitched.

 _ **As I said, don't mess around with anything important.**_

Jay couldn't move anymore.

 _Kai, I just need to let you know that you'll have to turn the device around my neck back on. I can't move myself like this, so I can't do it myself. I'm in some kind of catatonic state caused by my powers. You're actually the one who'll be the least affected during all of this._

Kai looked up at Jay with a mortified expression on his face. He said something, which Jay couldn't hear.

 _Kai, I can't hear you like this. What did you say?_

 _ **You never said you'd go**_ **catatonic** _ **!**_

 _Well, I do. Now, calm down…_

 _ **Jay!**_

 _I'm moving in, Kai, and it'll be much easier if you just calm down._

Jay was just _about_ to move in, when something with many arms grabbed him, Kai, and the basked that Lloyd was taking a nap in. Kai was struggling, doing his best to escape while Jay only got some weird thoughts from Lloyd, something about flying on the back of a giant bird?

Apparently, Lloyd was heaving nice dreams.

 _Okay, so I'm going to try this again._

 _ **Now?! We're being kidnapped!**_

 _What? I can't move, so why not?_

 _ **Okay, so what do I do?**_

 _All you have to do is stop wiggling like that. This person might drop you._

Kai stopped wiggling and relaxed, as Jay asked him to, which allowed Jay to safely cross over into Kai's memories and look for something that seemed wrong. While there were a whole lot such memories, some which happened well before Kai was born, Jay could only do so much.

Kai's mind was a mess. There were memories all over the place, and so many of them seemed wrong.

All he did was pull forward one of the memories that seemed about right (Kai was running after some Skeleton Warriors in it) and push back one of the memories that seemed wrong (somehow, he doubted that the sixteen-year-old would've fought _anyone_ a hundred years ago, much less with an army) before he decided to move out, back into his own mind. Their captor was still carrying him and Kai.

 _Kai, I'm done for now. I'll explain what happened when I can move again._

 _ **I'm a little dizzy. Are you sure I'm the least affected by this?**_

 _Catatonic, Kai. I can't move anything other than my eyes._

To prove his point, Jay moved his eyes, but Kai told him that he couldn't see him.

When they landed (in the middle of some kind of old dojo), and the three of them were put down (gently, for some reason), Kai immediately pushed the button on Jay's device, which made things get clearer and giving him back the ability to move freely.

Now he could see where exactly he was and who kidnapped him and his friends.

Some creep in a Samurai mecha.

And somehow, it wasn't the weirdest thing he'd been kidnapped by in the past. The first one was a cult, who took him from his parents' home a year ago, the next one was a bunch of monks, who saved him from the cult but were an entirely different cult, and the third one was a lunatic who threatened to kill him, almost killed Cole and Zane upon first meeting them, stabbed a ninja in the throat, bit off a man's thumb and somehow, Jay considered him a good friend, despite the whole kidnapping thing and threatening to kill him.

Kai had really come a long way, and considering how messed up his mind was, Jay could honestly say that things could've been a _whole_ lot worse for their group. But now, he first had to figure out who kidnapped him, Kai and Lloyd and why.

* * *

 _ **Italics & Bold: Kai telepathicly speaking**_

 _Italics: Jay being telepathic  
_

 **Poor Cole and Zane are going to be so worried to find everybody missing when they come back to camp. And so will Lloyd, when he wakes up.  
**

 **Man, that kid can sleep.**

 **Thank you for reading this, and I like reading your reviews, so please comment! :D**


	8. Family Reunion

_**Ash**_

The wound where he was stabbed in the Serpentine Tomb had healed, but he lost all ability to talk.

So, he'd taken to always carrying around a notepad and a pen to write down what he wanted to say. Griffin also pre-recorded the sound of Karloff screaming for Ash so he would be able to get someone's attention if he needed it.

He used it once, and that was it, because everybody thought that Karloff was being attacked by something, including, for some reason, Karloff.

A lot happened in the past three months.

Skylor found an old scroll which Sensei hid, which spoke of a ninja who would rise above the others and become the Green Ninja, which caused everybody to train harder in order to reach their Full Potential and see who would be said ninja, who was destined to defeat the Dark Lord.

The Serpentine got unleashed, and nobody knew exactly who did it, or how they knew where all of the tombs were.

A hero called Samurai X appeared, who Skylor found to be Nya one day and then, a couple of weeks later, Nya revealed herself to the others.

Nya admitted that she was doing it to find her brother.

Ash got it. He had four brothers, one older and three younger, and he would _hate_ for one of them to go missing, no matter how crazy they drove him.

While he was getting better, his brothers came over to visit him in the hospital and in the monastery all the time, with his younger brothers asking him it hurt when he got stabbed (yes) and if he was scared (yes) and if they could poke him in the throat to see if their fingers would go through(no).

His older brother, on the other hand, tossed him a pudding cup (gross, why?) and sneezed in his hair.

Nya told him that Kai would never do something like that when he asked her if Kai ever bugged her like that.

Apparently, he raised her after their father vanished and their mom lost her mind and ran off one day.

Ash was sparring with Griffin when Nya suddenly showed up in her Samurai X suit, holding a giant basket and two guys, one who he recognised from the village near the tomb where he got stabbed as the guy who made that great coffee and the other one, who didn't know at all.

The coffee-guy didn't move until the unfamiliar guy pressed a button on the guy's collar.

Then a familiar head popped out of the giant basket, looking like it just woke up.

"Lloyd?!" Karloff gasped. "Lloyd, you are alive!"

The little boy ducked back into the basket, while the coffee-guy started rubbing his forehead, as if he had a massive headache. "Ooh, that's got to be one of the cleanest kidnappings I've ever been kidnapped in."

That implied that the guy's been kidnapped before. It also implied that he thought that he had been kidnapped.

"No need to be scared, little guy," Griffin told the guy as he helped him up. "You're with friends now."

The guy looked around, not seeming all too baffled, which, in an odd twist of events, baffled the ninjas.

"Cool place you got here," the guy told them. "Very isolated."

"You're very calm for someone who thinks he's been kidnapped," Nya told him as she got out of her Mecha.

The guy just smiled at her.

"So how did you and Kai wind up with my nephew?" Wu asked. "I am very curious and I've been worried about him ever since we lost him."

The older guy (Kai) looked surprised when he found out that the old man knew his name, but Ash felt that he shouldn't, because his sister was with them and he would have to know that she would tell them.

"We found him on a flagpole," the coffee-guy told Wu. "He's been living with us since."

Lloyd poked his head out of his giant basket again. "How'd we get here?"

"Nya brought you here," Skylor explained very gently. "We're very sorry for hurting you, Lloyd."

Lloyd looked around. "Where's Cole and Zane?"

"You don't have to worry about them," Nya told the newcomers. "They won't bother you anymore."

"YOU KILLED THEM?!"

That was the punkish guy speaking, mortified.

Suddenly he grabbed Kai by the arm and pulled back as hard as he could while he (Kai) was reaching out for Nya. Clawing at her, really.

"No! Kai! Where are you?! Where are you, Kai?!"

The clawing at Nya stopped and Kai looked around, apparently surprised. "I don't know." His gaze fell upon his little sister. "Nya? I thought you were _dead!_ Where are we? Jay, where are we?!"

The other guy (presumably Jay) shrugged as he let go of Kai. "No idea."

Ash brought out his notebook and scribbled in it. **What was that?**

Kai made a gesture that told Ash that he wanted to hug Nya, but he stopped himself mid-attempt and went back to looking around. "Seriously, where are we?"

"You are in my monastery," Wu told the three of them. "Your sister brought you three here."

A wave of recognition passed over Kai's face when he saw Wu, but he didn't say anything.

Jay, however, was studying the daisies in the garden, exclaiming that "Zane would've loved this," before falling into them, face first, with a loud squeak.

"Zane's one of the guys who kidnapped you, right?" Griffin asked next to Ash.

Jay poked his head out of the daisies as Lloyd finally left the safety of his basket and jumped in with him. "No! Zane's our friend, and so is Cole. They're harmless."

"Should I… Should we help?" Griffin asked. Jay had gotten himself tangled up in the flowers and was giggling that he didn't sleep on anything so soft in _ages_ before falling asleep in the garden.

Kai, on the other hand, started dodging Nya when she tried to hug him.

"Nya, Nya, please don't touch me," Kai told (warned?) his sister as he kept ducking away from her. "I missed you too, but please don't touch me."

Lloyd was making a daisy chain (where he learned it was a mystery to Ash) while Kai was still dodging his sister.

Sadly, Nya had given up on catching her brother and giving him a hug, as she wanted to.

Apparently, Jay didn't fall asleep in the garden, he just closed his eyes, because now he was running into the ninjas' home, announcing that he had an idea and that the ninjas shouldn't attack anyone who came in through the gates because he could explain.

When he came back, he had a sheet in his arms and threw it over Kai, who didn't seem to mind it, despite the fact that he was now blinded and almost helpless.

He also looked like some kind of a blue ghost, which would be funny if it didn't mean that Jay took a sheet from Ash's bed, and he appeared to be reaching for Nya now.

"Nya, where are you?" Kai's hand hit Griffin's head by accident. "No, you're not Nya."

"Kai, she's right in front of you," Jay said.

Kai grabbed out in front of him, finding Nya, who was now a little mad at her brother's antics. "Found you!"

"Kai, what's wrong with you?" Nya demanded. "First, you dodge me, then your little friend throws a freaking sheet over you, and now, as if by magic…"

Kai wrapped his arms around his sister. "I'm so sorry!"

Jay put his hands over his heart and smiled. "Aw, you guys are so adorable together."

Suddenly the gates opened, and two people popped in, both of them looking very tired. It looked like they ran all the way from the bottom of the mountain.

One of them was holding a chair (?!) and the other one had a falcon perched on his shoulder.

"Cole! Zane!" Lloyd ran over to hug the two strangers by their legs. "You're alive!"

"Why's Kai under a sheet?" One of the strangers asked, sounding genuinely confused. "And are these the Ninjas? Did _they_ kidnap you?"

The one holding the chair got a sudden hug from Jay. "I was so worried that you guys! I thought that you…"

"We followed your freaking chair all the freaking way to this freaking place," the guy engulfed in the hug complained. Then he looked right at Ash with a bright look on his face. "Hey, you're alive!"

Ash nodded and started writing down in his notepad.

 **How did you know about my accident?**

The other guy, the one who came in with the first guy, winced. "We heard about it from someone who lives close to where the accident happened. He told us that he saw you get carried away by your friend and he couldn't help but notice that you were injured."

Lloyd looked up from where he was hugging a leg. "What happened?"

"Nothing, pipsqueak," the purple-eyed guy said, messing up Lloyd's hair as he spoke. "There was just an accident back where we used to live."

"What kind of accident?"

"The Blue Ninja got stabbed in the throat and now he cannot speak anymore," the second guy told Lloyd.

"I want my chair back," Jay grumbled, reaching out behind the older guy.

The purple-eyed guy gave Jay the chair (WTF) with a groan.

His friend was busy petting the falcon, which was perched on his shoulder.

Kai was still hugging Nya, sobbing over and over that he was so sorry while the girl started to fuss over him.

Jay was hugging his chair.

The purple-eyed guy was talking to Lloyd with a soft, gentle voice, telling him something that Ash and his friends couldn't hear.

The sun was starting to set.

Wu looked over the four strangers and his nephew.

"You should stay here until you can find yourselves a new home," the old man told them. "We have plenty of room, and I believe that we have beds far more comfortable than my garden."

Jay turned bright pink while the older of the four (Purple Eyes) thanked Wu very much.

* * *

 **Bold: Ash writing down.**

 **Ash is okay! Well, mor** **e okay than before.**

 **Also, I have a feeling that things are about to get a little crowded over there.**

 **Today was my BFF's birthday. Yesterday I caught a bird and today I caught a bird and the power's been out all day until just now. Please send in your reviews, and I will be very happy! You are all so very nice. Please enjoy this fic!**


	9. New Friends!

_**Zane**_

Upon returning to the camp, Zane and Cole found no one there.

No basket with Lloyd inside, no Kai and no Jay.

"Please don't tell me Kai's at it again," Cole groaned. "Not now. Not with Lloyd around."

Zane tilted his head as he watched the tree where the basket was mere minutes ago. "I understand that Kai may get a little violent at times. But if this _was_ him, then there would've been more of a struggle and he would've taken Lloyd _out_ of the basket instead of taking it with him."

Cole sighed. "I know, I know."

"Someone else must've come here and…"

Cole turned to stare at Zane. "It's weird that we know the difference between Kai and some random kidnapper, right?"

Zane nodded. "It is."

"If they have Kai, then things won't end too well," Cole mused.

Sit Chairsalot twitched from where it was sitting.

At first, Zane thought it might be because of something underneath the chair that was crawling out, but when nothing came out and the chair started shaking, he realised that it may have something to do with Jay, who used the chair to focus his telekinetic powers on ever since the suppressor for that broke. They got kicked out of their home before the youngest (until Lloyd came along) member of their group could fix it.

"Should we…" Cole looked at the shaky chair. "Should we follow the chair?"

Zane poked the chair, causing it to fall over. It stopped shaking.

"Okay, so we don't follow the chair," Cole said, looking at it with disappointment.

Zane picked it up and got a surprised look from Cole. "You know that Jay's going to be heartbroken if we don't bring it with us. And without his suppressor, things WILL get thrown."

Cole turned his tail back into legs. "If Jay focusses his telekinetic abilities into the chair, then maybe we can use it to find him. And if Kai and Lloyd are with him, then three birds with one stone, right?"

Zane's falcon squawked in response.

"Sorry," Cole apologised. "Bad choice of words."

Zane agreed with Cole. About the bad choice of words, and the chair.

Cole turned his legs into a tail again and made himself as tall as possible before letting go of it.

His tail turned into legs again and the chair started hovering a few feet in the air.

"And now, we…" Cole started to say, but the chair started floating away. "Wait!"

Now the two of them had to run after the chair, which was making a lot of twists and turns, and flew into several trees along the way.

"Come back!"

"Cole, it's a _chair_!"

"We have to catch it!"

The two of them chased the chair for another half-hour or so, when they arrived at the foot of a very steep, very tall mountain. When Zane looked up, he could see a red object flying overhead and landing at the top. He could see the basket he and Cole wove for Lloyd hanging from the red object.

He told Cole that.

The chair floated a little longer, then it dropped in front of some stairs.

 _Zane! I thought Kai's sister killed you!_

Cole apparently also heard Jay's voice in his head, because he replied out loud.

"Kai has a sister?"

 _Her name is Nya, her favourite colour is blue, and while she did kidnap me, she thought that you two were holding us hostage and that she was saving us._

"What prompted this bizarre concept?" Zane asked, running up the stairs. "She's not like Kai, is she?"

 _If you're trying to ask if she's messed up like him, then not really, no. She's the girl Kai thought might be related to someone he touched by accident, remember? And then I found out that she's actually related to HIM, but he can't remember all that well because he touched like a million people before he realised that something was up? Kai thought that Samukai killed her? I showed her to you guys, just in case one of you ran into her? Come on, guys. You know what I'm talking about._

Cole turned into a twelve-year-old girl with black hair and brown eyes, and his clothes changed into a faded red dress that went down right by his ankles as he dragged the chair after him. "You mean _this_ girl?"

 _Yeah, that's her. Just… a little older and not wearing_ that _dress. Like this._

Zane suddenly got a mental image of the same girl Cole had turned into, but a little older and wearing a different dress. Still a red one, but this one was much nicer and not as long. It was also of a bigger size.

According to the image Jay sent to him and Cole, the girl was hugging someone under a blue sheet.

 _It's Kai. She wanted to hug him, but there are holes in his clothes and he doesn't want her to know about his powers until he can remember her more clearly, and he wanted to hug her back, because he really missed her, but he didn't want to accidently absorb her into his mind, coz that would just be plain wrong._

Cole suddenly turned back into his natural form. Zane suspected that Jay asked him to, because it would not end well for anyone if that happened.

 _Nya would freak. Then all of the ninjas here would freak. And then, Kai would freak. And we all know how_ that _usually… OMG! You guys brought Sir Chairsalot?!_

Cole looked at the chair he was holding behind him, then up at the peak of the building. There was some kind of building there. "You need it to focus your powers, right?"

 _I do, but I didn't…_

"You guys are so adorable together," Jay could be heard saying from beyond the gates that were now in front of them.

Zane opened the wooden gate in front of them.

Suddenly, a little blond ball of energy tackled him and Cole in a hug. "Cole! Zane! You're alive!"

Cole told Jay how they followed his chair up the mountain (Jay seemed very amused about it), then he looked around.

"Hey! You're alive!"

When Zane found that Cole was talking to the Blue Ninja, who Kai stabbed in the throat and threw into the White Ninja as hard as he could, he was, just like the rest of their group (except for Lloyd, who nobody told about the incident), pleasantly surprised.

The four of them thought that the ninja had been killed.

When Kai was on his way back to their part of the tomb, Zane had to quickly put Lloyd to bed, because Kai had blood all over him.

Jay was quiet for a few minutes after that, mumbling every few seconds before he went back to acting as if nothing happened.

It wasn't strange, considering the fact that he had been kidnapped by two cults, the first one which had several people killed and didn't even bother trying to explain themselves, the second one which also had several people killed, but _they_ explained themselves, telling Jay that they were doing it for the greater good, and the fact that he escaped both cults when the next person to get their hands on him killed everybody they could get their hands on.

It also wasn't strange when Jay started hugging his chair, because for the past three months, that chair was the only thing in his environment that he could control.

 _Fine, I have issues. But at least_ I _don't hoard plants._

Cole was now talking to Lloyd.

"Look, I know we were great for these past few months, and it's been fun hanging out with you, but it's not good for a growing boy to live in the woods, on the run, with a bunch of weirdoes like us. I think it would be best for you if we left you here with your uncle and Kai's sister."

Tears started forming in the little boy's eyes, when the old man standing on the side spoke up.

"You should stay here until you can find yourselves a new home," the old man said. "We have plenty of room, and I believe that we have beds far more comfortable than my garden."

Jay turned pink when Zane tried to telepathically ask what the old man meant.

"Thank you very much," Cole told the old man. "But we don't want to impose."

The old man said that it was no problem and had Griffin Turner, the White Ninja, show the five of them to a spare bedroom.

Griffin was very chatty, but he seemed nice.

 _He is. The other ninjas think that he's a very nice guy, and the old man seems to think that he's one of the best choices he made for a ninja so far, because he doesn't get overconfident and make bad decisions._

"So, this is your room," Griffin told them, showing them into a room with two neatly made beds with another bed over it on the inside, each bed with a set of clean clothes on top. "We don't have enough rooms for each of you to have your own…"

"I… I need my _own_ room," Kai told Griffin. "And where does Lloyd go? I don't…"

"I'm sorry, but we don't actually have enough rooms for everybody to have their own, and it would be unfair for Sensei to make an exception just for…"

"No, he needs his own room," Cole told Griffin.

"He snores," Zane added.

"Very loudly," Jay agreed.

"So does Karloff, and he doesn't have his own room," Griffin explained.

"Sometimes he screams in his sleep," Lloyd added.

Griffin shook his head. "I'm sorry, but there's just not enough room."

"Where does Lloyd go?" Kai asked again. "I don't think that he'll enjoy… bunking with you guys."

Griffin seemed to be thinking. "Okay, so one of you'll have to bunk with us then."

 _I can't bunk with the ninjas. I have weird dreams._

Cole couldn't do it either.

And there was the obvious problem with Kai.

"I'll bunk with you guys," Zane told Griffin. "I am very quiet and I do not walk, scream or talk in my sleep."

He was, after all, the most normal one of their group.

Somehow.

* * *

 **When Jay has weird dreams, things tend to float around and weird thoughts get broadcasted around the room.  
**

 **Cole shapeshifts in his sleep, and often wakes up confused.**

 **Kai might have a problem sleeping in the same room as the person he stabbed, even if Ash doesn't know it was him, and while the guys made up the whole story about the snoring and the screaming in his sleep, Kai still needs his own room.**

 **Zane is the only one who doesn't use his powers in his sleep or gets confused by his powers.**

 **No, Jay doesn't have chair fetish. Sir Chairsalot is his security object (it makes him feel safe).**

 _Italics: Jay Telepathicly speaking._


	10. Ultimate Destruction

_**Kai**_

It's only been a couple of days since he's been reunited with his sister.

She was _his_ sister. Not someone else's sister, like he first thought once he realised how his powers worked.

 _Throw the butter at it._

Kai spun around, wondering what could've prompted Jay sending such a weird message to him, when he found that the guy was still sleeping.

So was Lloyd, who made a throwing gesture before mumbling something about missing it.

 _GREAT! Now we're dead! We're dead!_

Jay started sobbing from under his covers. "We're dead!"

"No we're not!" Lloyd yelled, waking up Cole, who was apparently not dragged into Jay and Lloyd's shared dream. "I still got my blanket!"

Cole went closer to Lloyd in order to investigate, which turned out to be a big mistake, because Lloyd punched him in the face, then threw his blanket at him.

"I killed it! I killed it!"

 _We're going to live!_

"It's time to wake up, little guy," Cole told Lloyd from under the blanket, gently shaking him.

 _ **You too, Jay.**_

Jay gasped softly and fell out of bed, while Lloyd was much more graceful and just apologised to Cole for attacking him, telling him that he had a dream about fighting a giant snake.

"So, who do you think the Green Ninja is?" Skylor asked someone outside their bedroom door.

"You could always ask your teacher," Zane answered, opening the bedroom door and just walking in.

Everybody greeted Zane when he was inside the room.

Skylor looked at where Kai had put his clothes on his bed, next to an unzipped bag. "So you and your sister going home?"

Kai shook his head. "No."

Cole rubbed his jaw. "We talked about it yesterday, when the five of you went out to fight the Serpentine."

"We decided to leave before we overstay our welcome," Zane told the Red Ninja. "Not that we felt unwelcome, but…"

"I know it was you, Kai," Skylor said all of a sudden.

Jay jumped up and grabbed Lloyd by the shoulders before Skylor could say another word. "I have a great idea for what we can do before breakfast," he exclaimed before carrying the boy out as fast as he could.

"What are you talking about?" Kai asked as Zane helped Cole pack.

"In the tomb. Three months ago."

 _Please don't tell me she's going to bring_ that _up. Please, please, please…_

"You were the one who stabbed Ash."

Cole dropped the bag he was holding. "Skylor, you don't know what you're doing," he warned.

"You're messing with things that shouldn't be messed with," Zane added with a low tone of voice, slowly backing away. Cole picked up a nearby candle-holder, just in case it needed to be used as a weapon.

 _Kai, focus. Your sister is right outside. Lloyd and I are in the kitchen. Where are you?_

"The only reason I didn't tell Nya is because she's my friend, and you're her brother." Skylor apparently decided ignore the warnings of the two others in the room. "I guess it's a good thing that Nya didn't end up like…"

"Nyoom!"

Skylor was tackled by a bundle of black and grey before she could finish what she was going to say.

Flames started coming out of her hands as she tried to defend herself from her sudden attacker. "Let go of me!"

Lloyd came running in from the yard to see what the screaming and the cursing was for.

"What's going on here?!" Sensei Wu demanded when he came out of his room because of the racket. He dodged Jay's foot with mere seconds to spare and banged his staff on the floor. "Skylor! Let go of him!"

"He attacked me!" Skylor hissed, pushing down Jay so his face was mushed against the floorboards.

"It does not matter! You are the leader! You must set an example for the others!"

Jay was still kicking to be let go of.

His clothes and hair were singed from the flames and there was the smell of burning flesh in the air once Skylor _did_ let go of him. Which was after Ash and Griffin had to pull her off of him.

Jay immediately started crying.

 _I wanna go home! I wanna go home to my mom and my dad, and then build things with them and I wish I never got these stupid powers in the first place! It's always so loud!_

Cole ran over to try and calm him down, but he got slapped in the face for his efforts.

Then Jay did something that chilled Kai to the bone.

He removed the devices he wore to control his telekinetic powers, while Cole and Zane ran over to try and calm him down even more.

Cole got slapped again. Zane got a kick in the shin.

Things, and people, started getting thrown around as Jay kept crying about how he didn't even want to be there in the first place.

Nails were pulled from the walls.

Planks were ripped apart, splinter by splinter.

The glass windows shattered into millions of dangerously sharp shards.

Cole decided to just grab Lloyd and run.

Skylor was watching the scene in front of her unfold into chaos.

Kai knew that he could stop this.

He didn't know how, seeing as Jay shut down any telepathic link that may still be left between them, but he knew that he could stop it.

The entire building was being destroyed.

The entire mountaintop.

Kai took a deep breath before walking closer and removing one of his gloves once he was close enough.

Jay was surprisingly cold for someone who was just on fire.

Strange memories flowed into his head as he copied Jay's powers into himself within just a few milliseconds of contact.

 _ **Jay? It's me.**_

Jay continued to sob.

 _ **I know things get hard. I know your powers aren't easy to work with, but…**_

 _I want to go home._

 _ **I know, buddy. But is that really a good reason to destroy an entire mountain?**_

 _I want to go home._

A nearby portrait of the ninjas was ripped into tiny little pieces of fluff.

 _ **How about this: You put your devices back on, and we'll take you to your mom and dad.**_

 _You can't do that. You can't do that, they'll get killed!_

Things started getting tossed around more while Kai tried using his copied powers from Jay to try and calm things down as much as possible.

 _You shouldn't have done that._

Before Kai could ask what Jay was talking about, his borrowed powers vanished and so did Jay's memories.

Everything dropped on the ground.

Jay allowed Kai to put the devices he removed back in, but his usually chatty friend stayed quiet, looking out into the sea of splinters and glass in front of him.

Kai couldn't believe that it was all a house just minutes ago.

Good thing Nya was in Ninjago City that day.

"I can't believe I did that," Jay whispered to himself.

Kai picked up his friend, as he couldn't (or wouldn't) move just yet, and walked down the stairs with him flung over his shoulder.

Jay was still breathing heavily.

He wasn't going to say sorry for the events of that morning.

The ninjas had it coming. Attacking his friend for no reason.

The only thing Kai regretted was not getting the chance to say bye to Nya.

* * *

 ** _Bold & Italics: Kai telepathicly speaking._  
**

 _Italics: Jay being telepathic  
_

 **Sir Chairsalot died in this chapter. He will be missed. Also, I think Cole may have kidnapped Lloyd. It doesn't matter. The ninjas aren't getting him after that little stunt Skylor pulled.  
**

 **Poor Nya. She just got her brother back, and now he's gone again. And she didn't even get to say goodbye. :(**

 **I will explain who's a robot in a future chapter. Thank you for reading and please comment!**


	11. How I met your Zane

_**Cole (Three Years Ago)**_

In another world, he never managed to do the Triple Tiger Sashay well enough on his entrance exams and ran away instead of facing the disappointment of his father.

This wasn't that world.

Cole did the Triple Tiger Sashay _perfectly_ and got in the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts with flying colours. Nobody laughed at him when he failed to do the ridiculously difficult dance move, but instead, were silenced when they saw the seven-year-old do it _flawlessly_.

And so, he stayed.

He stayed there for six years, ignored by his father, but praised by his teachers and classmates over the years he went there.

Never by his father, though. He was too busy with his band. Too busy with work. Too busy to see his only son.

Too freaking busy to spend time with Cole, who just wanted to be accepted by his father.

That was literally the only reason he went to the stupid school.

Not for himself, for his father.

He finally had enough when he practiced for months. Stretched, danced, and trained for _months_. He practiced his dance moves until he could do them in his sleep.

He kept training. Over and over. If it wasn't perfect, it wasn't good enough.

His body didn't hurt anymore after his daily training. That, or he was already so used to it, he couldn't _feel_ the pain anymore.

Then the big day came.

It was flawless. His father was there. He did everything according to the book.

He went to his father to ask him what he thought of his performance, only to hear his father tell him how his movements were tight, stocky, and not quite the way the dance was supposed to be.

He snapped at his father, who told his friends that Cole was just being a teenager and that they shouldn't mind him.

"How would _you_ know?!" Cole argued. "You haven't even _acknowledged_ my _existence_ in _six years_! You have no idea what I'm like!"

That was the first time Cole could remember arguing with his father.

When he went up to his room, which he shared with some weird kid he never paid any attention to anyways.

"Whoa, man. Cool contacts," the kid exclaimed when Cole walked in. "Did you get them for your show?"

"What are you talking about?" Cole asked, taking off his off his glittery costume (he was going to find glitter everywhere for the next few years, Cole just knew) to put on his pyjamas. "I'm not wearing any contacts."

The guy laughed. "Whoa man! That's a good one! You almost got me!"

Cole shook his head. As previously mentioned, the kid was weird. Very weird.

He went to the bathroom, where he took a shower (he was all sweaty from the recital) before brushing his teeth to find that yes, his eyes _did_ in fact turn purple. The weird kid was right.

He was wondering when exactly it happened, when his pyjamas turned into his costume from that night's performance, which didn't seem quite right. The costume was still in the bag when Cole checked to look and see.

It was okay.

He was just imagining things. If he were to close his eyes, take a deep breath, and open them again, Cole would be wearing his pyjamas, just like he has been since he got dressed.

Turns out, he was right.

But his eyes were still purple. Maybe he _did_ put in contacts, and just forgot about them.

Nope.

He wasn't wearing contacts. He just poked his finger in his eye, to find that he wasn't wearing any contact lenses as he thought.

But his eyes were back to their normal colour. Maybe he was just imagining things.

When he was back in his room again, his roommate was sleeping, so Cole couldn't ask him if his eyes had really been purple.

He flopped down on his bed.

Something wasn't right.

His arms and his legs were too long, his clothes were too big and his bed was too small.

Cole sat up in his bed to try and figure out what exactly had happened.

He looked down at his hands.

They were purple.

Then they weren't.

Flashing between colours like a light on a Christmas tree, flickering…

And his skin was back to its normal colour.

He needed to get out.

He needed to think.

No, he needed to get out of there.

He never even wanted to become a dancer like his father insisted. He wanted to do _other_ things, like see the world, maybe try some new things along the way…

Things he always wanted to do, but never could, because he was stuck in this ridiculous excuse for a school.

He found his suitcase, stuffed everything he owned in it, and left through the back door, still wearing his pyjamas and his slippers, which were gradually turning into regular, day-to-day clothes as he left.

He had enough. He wasn't _ever_ coming back.

He pushed and strained himself for months to try and get his father's acceptance, only for the man to tell him that he wasn't even good enough.

He didn't stop running until the school was a tiny little speck in the distance.

He was leaving behind all of his friends, his father and all of the teachers who ever cared about him.

Which meant that he was leaving behind exactly _nine_ people. Two, not counting the teachers.

It was finally over.

He could finally do the things _he_ wanted to.

And the first thing was: climb the tree in front of him.

He didn't climb a tree since he was very young. He has been on the run for a week now, and he still didn't do anything exciting.

The tree looked pretty exciting, so he would climb it.

He put his suitcase down and grabbed the tree firmly by the lowest branch.

The branch was, unfortunately, too thin to hold him and broke.

"You are harming the tree," a voice said behind him, causing Cole to squeak and drop the branch he was holding.

When he turned around, there was a boy of about sixteen, with dark blond hair and furious (almost glowing) green eyes staring at him.

"I'm so sorry," Cole told the guy. "It's just, I wanted to climb it, and I didn't know the branch would break and…"

"Do you know who I am?" the stanger asked.

Cole turned pale.

The other guy reached his hand out for Cole to take. "I'm Zane. Do you know that name?"

Zane seemed almost hopeful, but he lost that look in his eyes when he noticed that Cole's eyes held no recognition.

"I'm Cole, and sorry about the tree," Cole told the strange boy as he shook his hand. "I didn't know that..."

Zane let go of Cole and went over to softly pet the bark of the tree. "It's okay. You will be fine. This will be just like before, it will not hurt."

Cole wanted to laugh at the strange guy who was talking to the tree, but the branch that Cole accidently broke off grew back like it was nothing. It was so _freaky_.

Zane picked up the branch which Cole dropped and planted it a few feet away from the first tree, where it became another tree, just a little smaller.

Then Zane turned his attention to Cole.

Cole backed away slowly, not sure what to do about this seemingly magical person who might attack him for hurting one of his trees.

"So you don't know who I am?" Zane asked, disappointment lacing his voice. "I was hoping that maybe you did…"

Zane sat down with a loud, disappointed sigh.

"I'm sorry," Cole told the stranger. "I wish I could help, but…"

"I can't remember anything other than my name," Zane told Cole, waving his hand around a little, which caused a flower to peek out from the dirt. "I woke up out here, and can't remember anything."

"It's okay," Cole told the guy. "You can come with me."

Cole had no idea what possessed him say that.

"Thank you, Cole," Zane mumbled as he stood up. "I'd like that."

* * *

 **And that's how Cole and Zane met.  
**

 **In this AU, Cole went to the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts until he ran away at thirteen. He first thought his powers manifesting was because of stress-induced hallucinations, and yes, he thought Zane was magic.**

 **Thank you for reading this, and please comment!**


	12. Pythor: Part 2: The Pythoning

_**Scales**_

To be honest, Scales didn't trust Pythor all that much.

The other tribes, they were blinded by his pretty lies and the fact that he was the one who freed them from their tombs, but the Hypnobrai tribe had an advantage over them with the tiny little fact that they _weren't_ freed by Pythor and that they knew better than all when someone was lying.

It was in their blood.

Because of his distrust and dislike of Pythor, Scales felt like an abomination when he tricked the self-appointed "King of the Snakes" into appointing himself as his second-in-command with some pretty lies of his own. The other Hypnobrai didn't give him much of a choice, telling him that it would be best for _all_ Serpentine if he did so, so he would be able to be close to Pythor when he finally decided to show his true, more violent colours.

That way, he would be able to stop the _humongous_ Serpentine more easily.

And the way Pythor was talking…

Releasing the Great Devourer to destroy the humans?

Scales' mind kept screaming at him to slither to the human city of Ninjago (how original, right?) and warn the humans of what Pythor was planning, but he knew for a fact that not all humans were like the humans who let the Hypnobrai out of their tomb and became like part of the tribe.

He sniffed the air with his tongue before gagging (loudly) next to Pythor, who laughed and promised that once the humans were gone, Scales wouldn't have to worry about the bad scents of the sewers ever again.

It seems that Pythor forgot his roots.

When Scales was younger, he would love to read the books about the other tribes, where they came from and all of their legends.

Four of the tribes came from the Great Devourer, a great, big, never-satisfied snake that would eat and eat until there was nothing left.

The Anacondrai, however, come from an ancient tribe of humans who turned themselves into Serpentine many ages ago.

That was why the Anacondrai didn't hiss like the other tribes. That's why they all had tails. That's why they had more than one (or two, in the case of the Fangpire) general.

And something else had been bothering Scales for a very long time.

Ever since he first met Pythor, who opened the entrance of the Hypnobrai tomb and was confused as to how the Hypnobrai didn't manage to break out earlier, Scales had wondered how exactly Pythor escaped.

Pretty words don't exactly _work_ on stone walls and even a thousand Anacondrai would be unable to open up from the inside, even _with_ their incredible strength.

There was only _one_ of Pythor.

And that was a good thing.

"It's cold in here," Pythor told Scales with his un-Serpentine accent (which gave Scales something the humans called "The Chills") as he held his arms in a similar way he had the humans do when they were cold.

"The Hypnobrai spent thirty-six years stuck in a tomb made of ice," Scales retorted, "so you better stop being a little bitch ass about it."

That was something Scales had learned from the humans who lived in the tomb with the Hypnobrai. Hopefully Pythor didn't know where it came from.

"A bitch ass?" Pythor twisted his absurdly long neck around to look Scales in the eyes. "I was merely making a statement, Scales. No need to compare me to _mammals_."

The way Pythor said "mammals" was similar to the way one would say "Golden Master". He spat it out and shuddered.

Pythor didn't seem to understand the context in which Scales was saying it, and he clearly had no idea that it was a human expression, which was lucky.

 _Very_ lucky.

Scales fell back to the previous general of his tribe, Slithraa, to talk.

In another world, Scales would've fought him in the Slither Pit to become leader of the tribe. He would've played dirty and won, because the general was both old, and under his own spell, which put him under the power of a small boy who fell in the tomb.

In this one, Slithraa arranged for Scales to challenge him as leader of the tribe and stage a fight in the pit in order to show that Scales was ready to lead, and that Slithraa was, in fact, still very powerful.

The humans who unsealed the tomb were allowed to watch, which was a great honour for someone outside the tribe. But the humans didn't seem to enjoy the fight as much as the thousands of cheering snakes and one of them hid its face behind its tiny human hands, slowly turning greener and greener as it whimpered.

Slithraa was defeated and was allowed to step down as general and sit in the sun, while Scales got the respect of his people when they saw that yes, Scales deserved the spot a leader.

But that was ages ago, and Scales needed some peace of mind from a wise elder who was watching a bug fly past his face with a delighted expression on his face and his claws in the pockets of a pair of "jeans" he scared off a human.

"That's a fly, Scales," Slithraa told Scales with elation. "It's been so long since I saw a fly. I never thought I'd say this, but I missed the flies. The disgusting little insects…"

Scales watched as the fly went down the throat of Riss, Slithraa's young granddaughter, in a single bite. "Are flied poisonous to eat?" Scales asked, his hood spread out, alert for any signs of sickness in the greyish-blue youngling from eating the bug.

Slithraa shook his head, chuckling. "No, they're not poisonous. But they _are_ annoying."

"And yummy!" Riss squeaked from where she was being held by her mother, Hissi.

"Did you have a question for my father, General?" Hissi asked with her slightly snobbish voice and her snout in the air. "I'm certain that you have far more important things to do than walk behind with a disgraced general and…"

"Hissi, you're a grown Serpentine," Hissi's mother, Wadjet, scolded. "You knew that your father is old, just as you knew that he planned to lose that challenge! Don't be bitter!"

Hissi disregarded her mother's advice and moved to be with her mate and _his_ family.

"AND HE'S NOT DISGRACED!" Wadjet yelled after her daughter.

Scales got the same feeling many have upon being stuck in the middle of a family argument of another family, which made him feel awkward and wonder if he should be asking his worrying question later.

But Slithraa didn't allow it, and neither did his very persistent mate.

"Now, what did you come here for?" Slithraa asked as his mate helped him down some stairs which Scales almost fell down due to him not paying attention. "I know that you didn't pop up unannounced just to hear me talk about flies and to get stuck in some family hostilities between my mate and my daughter."

"I was worrying," Scales said, "about the human younglings and their safety."

Slithraa and Wadjet both seemed very amused about something.

"What?" Scales asked, ignoring the strange feeling he got going down the stairs. "They were basically part of the tribe, and we had to make them leave because of Pythor."

"You're just a papa-snake," Wadjet said fondly as she patted Scales on the face. "Don't you worry. Your little human younglings will be _fine_."

Scales looked at her with worried red eyes. "But what if they're not? They have another youngling with them! A _little_ one! What if Kai has another dangerous episode and hurts someone again? What if Cole has another meltdown? What if Jay has a mental breakdown and forgets how to speak again?!"

"What if the Overlord comes back from the Dark Island and takes over Ninjago again?" Slithraa joked. "Don't worry, Scales. If they have a little youngling with them, then Kai will be more controlled and is _less_ likely to have an episode in which someone gets hurt…"

"He stabbed the Blue Ninja in the throat!" Scales hissed at the former general. "You saw the scar when we fought them! He can't speak!"

"Jay can keep him calm in such an instance," Wadjet said, taking another step down.

"And who's going to keep Jay calm?" Scales asked. "He's very young and…"

Scales first met Jay when the human youngling fell down in the tomb, unsealing it by accident. Slithraa attempted to hypnotise him, but the youngling was crying too much to actually fall under the general's spell and he was hurt from his fall.

He grabbed the first thing that had come close enough to be grabbed and refused to let go. That thing was Scales, and Scales was trying to calm the boy down enough so Slithraa could hypnotise him.

The little human clung to him like an old skin that refused to be shed, and the clinging got worse when the three other humans came in some time later.

Slithraa gave up on hypnotising the little human and instead, focused all of his energies on getting Jay off of Scales.

The strange humans (Cole, Zane and Kai) hurried over to try and help, but Jay just started screaming instead of crying, yelling "No!" for the rest of the day.

"Aw, Scales is worried about his little hatchlings," Fangtom, a close friend of Scales and the leader of the Fangpire, teased as he slithered past.

He and his brother, Fangdam, were the only two outsiders who knew that the Hypnobrai were already freed by the time Pythor showed up.

Fangdam waved at the Hypnobrai group as he ran after his brother.

Scales was about to ask Slithraa another question, this time about how Pythor could've gotten out of his tomb, when a messenger showed up, telling him that Pythor was asking for him.

Scales had to go and stand by his side and help him convince the tribes that uniting would be the best choice for them all.

Apparently, the Constricti didn't seem to think that the Venomari could be trusted, the Fangpire were arguing with the Constricti and the Venomari seemed to think that the Hypnobrai were weak, which was going to turn into a major war between the tribes pretty soon if it wasn't stopped.

As he reluctantly slithered back to Pythor, he noticed something odd among the mass of snakes surrounding him.

All clad in red, blue, black and white, were the ninjas, sneaking around, whispering false rumours that the Serpentine would keep spreading and laugh at.

So _that_ was what was causing the fights and the riots.

Scales still had to play with false loyalty to Pythor, so he slithered over to where the Blue Ninja was quietly shadowing the White Ninja.

Grab the Blue, leave the White.

The Blue Ninja was mute. He couldn't scream. The White Ninja could. And if the White Ninja screamed, then his friends would be able to hear and come for help.

A Vengestone bracelet was strapped to the boy's wrist.

That meant that his powers wouldn't work.

If his powers didn't work, he couldn't fight back.

The White Ninja didn't notice his friend wrapped in Scales' coils, unable to escape and making soft squeaks in order to try and get his attention.

None of the ninjas would notice until Scales gave the boy to Pythor.

Scales watched as the hope left the young human's grey eyes as his ninja friends had to retreat when the Serpentine became aware of their presence.

The Blue Ninja was put in a cell.

Scales had the feeling that Pythor would have him for a snack later, when nobody was looking.

Just to be safe, Scales had several Hypnobrai guards, including Mezmo, keep watch around the cell.

It was his job to take the Blue Ninja to the cell.

"I'm letting you out at midnight," Scales whispered in the human's ear. "Be careful not to fall asleep."

And with that, the boy was locked up in his cell.

* * *

 **Slithraa was the general before Scales. He's wearing pants because he thinks it makes him look cool (his daughter doesn't agree). Jay was the one who fell in the Hypnobrai Tomb in this AU and grabbed the closest thing to him, which was Scales. It happened right after Cole and Zane met Kai and Jay.  
**

 **I have this little theory that the Anacondrai were once humans who turned themselves into Serpentine with a spell, because how else would there be a (working) spell to turn humans into Anacondrai? Please tell me what you guys think about this theory!**

 **Scales is nicer than in the canon because his first meeting with humans since his imprisonment was someone who was obviously scared and didn't try to hypnotize the general.**

 **Riss is Slithraa's granddaughter and is about three years old. She's named after a minor character in the Dragonskin Slippers.**

 **Hissi is Riss's mom and Slithraa's daughter.**

 **Wadjet is Slithraa's wife and is named after an Egyptian goddess.**

 **Scales had to capture Ash, because Pythor is questioning his loyalty and bringing in a ninja would be a good way to convince him otherwise. He's going to help Ash escape later because he knows that Pythor will eat him if he has the chance (Jay told him before they were forced to leave everything behind).**


	13. Meeting: Morro

_**Morro**_

He could only remember two things: His name, and the fact that there was something he urgently had to tell someone before it was too late.

Too bad he didn't know what it was or who he had to tell it to.

He walked through Ninjago City with about as much direction as a blind duck, but he didn't have much of a choice in that.

It was starting to get late, and the person only known to himself as Morro had nowhere to sleep.

He considered sleeping in the alley between two buildings, but he was afraid of the dark, despite being around sixteen and having to be past the age where things like that scared him.

He also let out a sharp scream when the manhole cover moved under his feet and throwing him off.

Two people crawled out of the hole.

One was dressed in all blue while the other was dressed in all black, like a pair of colour-coded ninjas.

Not that he could mock them or anything, seeing as he was wearing all green (his clothes smelled of fish and salt, though) and looked about as graceful as a drowned rat.

The two guys (Black and Blue, as Morro mentally nicknamed them) removed their masks and looked around.

Black had black eyes and short black hair and was built like an MMA-fighter. He had a slight stubble, which meant that he was either growing a beard, or forgot to shave that morning. He appeared to be about nineteen.

Blue had grey eyes and spiky grey-brown hair that was longer than Black's, and much shorter than Morro's. When the light in the street went on, he could see an ugly scar on Blue's throat. Pinkish red lines of half-healed skin.

Blue didn't speak, but Black did. He spoke enough for the both of them.

"Who are you?!" Black demanded of Morro. "Where you come from?!"

"I'm Morro and I don't know!" Morro screamed, crawling away from the two strangers. He was pretty sure that they were part of some kind of gang, judging by the scars and the weird ninja outfits. Morro was wearing one too, but his was barely an outfit and was coming off thread by thread.

Blue smacked Black at the back of his head and angrily pointed at a flagpole and made a motion as if he was holding a kid. Then Blue made a motion as if to scold someone and folded his arms as if he had somehow won an argument that Morro (and judging by his expression, Back too) didn't know was being had.

"Ash, I have no idea what you try to say." Black brought out a little blue notebook and a pink pen with a poofy, feathery thing at the back from his pocket and handed it to Blue. "Write down."

Blue took the pen and the book, gave Black a funny look as he shook the pen a little, making the feathery bit dance around in the air. It seems that the blue-clad stranger was displeased with the pen he was given.

But he still wrote in the little book and showed it to Black. Black shrugged. "Sensei leave right after we come back. He say we don't come get you just yet, that we have to wait, but I was worried about Serpentine eating you."

Blue scribbled down something else.

"I know, I know," Black groaned after he read Blue's writing, "but don't…"

More scribbling.

Black turned his attention back to Morro. "Where you come from again?"

Morro blinked at Black. "I don't know." Morro stood up from where he fell due to Black throwing him off the manhole cover. "I don't remember anything." Morro pulled on his sleeve, which came right off at the sudden stress. "I just remember my name."

Black looked at Blue with the saddest look on his face Morro had ever seen, while Blue started scribbling something in his little book. Blue didn't even get the chance to make Black read it before both he and Morro were stuck on a bike behind Black and speeding off into the dessert.

Morro didn't know if he should try to escape from these two strangers, or if he should stay on the speeding bike that was being driven by a lunatic of sorts, but it didn't matter, because they were soon parked in front of a large wooden ship that had lights and everything.

A young girl of about thirteen with black hair in a bob came running out to greet Blue with a hug, telling him that she thought he was going to get eaten by snakes (wtf) and then became aware of Morro.

"Who are _you_?" the girl asked. She didn't have an accent like Black, so Morro doubted that she was related to him, as he first thought upon seeing her. There was little resemblance between them other than the colour of their hair anyway.

"Nya, this is Morro," Black told the girl. "Morro can't remember anything so we brought him here in case…"

The girl shrugged. "I don't care. Just as long as _this_ guy doesn't destroy the Bounty with his mind like the one my brother brought with him."

"That person's not still here, is he?" Morro asked nervously, trying to peek into an open window. He didn't like the idea of anyone destroying anything with their mind, and being close to a person like that…

"No, he took off with my brother and two other guys," Nya told him before climbing up the ladder leading to the deck of the ship. "They were never near the Bounty anyway."

Morro climbed up after her, followed by Blue, then Black.

"Who're you?" a red-haired girl in matching red gi asked the moment Morro was on deck.

This girl seemed to be about sixteen. She had her hair tied back into a ponytail and she looked just about ready to knock him out. Then Blue's face appeared behind him.

"Ash!" The girl ran over to help him up. "Ash! How'd you escape?"

"I go get him!" Black's voice rang down below. "I beat up snake!"

"But Sensei said not to go after him!" The redhead scolded. Then she hugged Black. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know, I was worried too…"

Morro realised that the girl was crying. Then a fourth person showed up, this one all dressed up in white.

This guy was wearing sunglasses, which reflected the scene on the deck, which was Blue just standing there, looking awkward while the redhead was sobbing into Black's shoulder, Morro was looking around and Nya was on her way inside, most likely to avoid being pulled in on the weird moment.

"ASHASHASHASHASHASH!"

That was the guy in white, running over to Blue with open arms, tackling him in a hug and causing both of them to fall over on the wooden floor. Apparently Blue was named Ash.

White didn't seem to care as much about Morro as the others. He was just happy that his friend was there.

As the love-tackle went on, the girl let go of Black, wiped her eyes and turned back to Morro. "So, do you have your parent's number on you or something? We have to call them to tell you that…"

"I don't know." Morro then explained his memory issue again.

It seems that it was all he did with these people.

The guy in white looked up at the girl in red. "Sky, it won't be an issue if he stays with us for a while, will it?" White stood up and helped Ash off the ground as well. "Just until Sensei comes back and figures out what to do with him."

The redhead, Sky, nodded. "Okay. But somebody's going to have to find him something to wear. His clothes are practically falling off."

With that, Sky went back inside. White started chatting very excitedly with Ash, while Black took Morro to the bathroom and told him to take a shower while he and his friends found something else for him to wear.

It was sooo nice, being able to shower.

He could scrub the smell of fish and seaweed off him, which had been following him since he woke up that morning. He was on a beach, washed up and covered in an extremely large piece of seaweed as if it was a blanket or something. He also had a dead fish in his hair that morning, which was why he was furiously washing his long black hair. The dirt and grime came off and revealed a streak of green once he rinsed off.

He cut it off right above his shoulders with a pair of scissors he found by the sink so it would bother him so much anymore and threw what he cut off in the trash can next to the toilet.

The face that looked back from the mirror seemed much more familiar, despite the soaking wetness clinging to him and the bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep. Morro had no idea what had kept him up in the past, but hopefully it wouldn't keep him up again.

Someone knocked on the door and White's voice spoke up behind it. "Morro? I brought you some clothes that might fit you."

Morro opened the door a crack and took a set of clothes from White's hands. He guessed it belonged to Ash, seeing as he seemed to be about Morro's size.

"Thanks."

"After you get dressed, I'll show you to your room."

Morro pulled the shirt over his head. "Thanks. I think I should warn you, though. I used someone's scissors to cut my hair and…"

"I'll clean it up later."

"No, I mean, I already cleaned up, I just hope it's okay…"

Morro put on a pair of (hopefully clean) underwear that was given to him and put on the pants after. "I feel so _clean_."

White laughed softly behind the door. "Yeah, a shower can do that to you."

"Um… I don't know any of your names," Morro suddenly realised out loud.

"Well, I'm Griffin." There was some shuffling behind the door, then Griffin went back to talking. "The big guy's Karloff, the guy with the scar on his throat is Ash…"

"I noticed that. What happened?"

Griffin was quiet for a while, then he sighed. "He almost died. You all dressed in there?"

"Yeah." Griffin didn't seem to want to talk about whatever happened to Ash, and Morro could respect that. "So, who are the others?"

"The girls are Skylor and Nya. Skylor's the leader around here, and Nya's the younger one." Morro opened the door and Griffin fell in with a shriek. Apparently he was leaning on the door.

Griffin was okay, though, because he got up again very quickly again and offered to show Morro around.

Morro didn't want to, being too tired to actually function like a human being, but he didn't want to be rude, so he nodded and followed Griffin through the ship like a lost puppy.

Dinner was had, but Morro barely even noticed what they were eating due to being so tired that he almost fell asleep several times, right in the chair.

Thankfully, Nya, the younger of the two girls, noticed this and took him to the boys' room, where there were two bunk beds. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

* * *

His dreams were filled with nightmares about evil smoke creatures, islands and the ocean trying to drown him.

Glowing weapons.

A blond man reaching out for his hand, only to be pushed away.

Something grabbing him by the leg.

Something _pulling_ him by the leg, whispering into his mind that he would never escape.

They were nothing but nightmares.

Just nightmares.

There was no way anything like that could have happened to him.

* * *

 **Guess who?  
**

 **Sorry I didn't update for so long. First my dog died, then the other one (actually our landlord's dog, but whatever) got run over by the landlord's son-in-law and died too. And on top it all off, I rewrote this entire chapter several times.**

 **Back to the story: Guess who made a new friend?**

 **Also, I can't decide if Nya's element should be metal or wind. Please vote?**

 **I have decided that I will now start unlocking the True Potensials of everybody, one person per chapter. No the ninjas hadn't unlocked theirs yet.**

 **I'd appreciate it if you (the reader) could help by suggesting who has to unlock theirs first, and how.**


	14. Never let Zane pick a vacation spot

_**Zane**_

Zane managed to convince his friends that to come to the ancient forest, filled with trees and plants as far as the eye can see, and seemingly devoid of any other humans. It was the biggest nature park in all of Ninjago and one of the few untamed places left in the world, and it was almost magical where they were sitting, hanging out between the wondrously tall trees.

There was just one little problem.

The earth below their feet was extremely fertile or something like that, because the plants didn't need Zane's help to take hold of objects, people and animals.

What was magical only a few seconds ago, had turned into a scene from a horror movie as Cole got grabbed by his feet and trapped in a cocoon made of tree and a root. Kai was fighting with a thorny bush to get Lloyd back, but it was clear that he was getting dragged in as well. Jay had hovered mid-air for a little while, as he was known to do at times, only to get pulled into the overgrown grass by some little pink flowers.

Even the falcon was grabbed.

Even _Zane_ got grabbed.

If it weren't for his powers, Zane would've been toast.

He managed to coax the plants to let go of him, but they ignored him when he tried to make them let go of his friends.

Because of that, he had to resort to helping without his powers.

It only made sense to free Jay first, as he could help using his telekinetic powers, but Lloyd's panicked screams made him think otherwise.

He was just a scared little boy, and he didn't even have any powers to help him. Besides, it wasn't as if Kai, who had been knocked unconscious by something and dragged into the grass, was going to help anyone at the moment.

"Hold on, Lloyd!" Zane called into the thorns as he crawled in after. "I'm coming!"

Lloyd just cried some more, which was both annoying, and useful. Zane followed the distressed cries through the dark, ignoring the thorns that were scratching away his skin a little at a time.

Then he struck something soft and fluffy, which he knew wasn't the bush, because the bush was hard and thorny and the something felt like human hair.

"Lloyd, I have my hand on something soft! Is it you?!"

Lloyd could be heard sniffling, then he finally spoke in a frightened little voice. "You got my head," the little boy whimpered.

Zane leaned in deeper onto the thorns and grabbed Lloyd by the collar of his shirt, pulling him out by it and wincing as the boy kept going "ow" as he was getting pulled out.

Somehow, it was more uncomfortable getting out than it was getting in, which Zane didn't really think was possible. The branches were more aggressive with Zane now, trying to keep Lloyd to itself.

They were drowning in thorns, swimming towards the light as fast as they could, when all of a sudden, both of them were spat out.

With Lloyd in his arms, Zane deemed it necessary to get the injured boy to a safe place as fast as possible. Unlike the others, he was completely helpless when it comes to defending himself.

And to make matters more complicated, the forest was alive, and not with wild animals. Zane felt absolutely terrible for bringing his friends here, but it was too late to feel sorry for himself.

Then they came across a tree that _wasn't_ moving. When Zane got closer, he realised that it wasn't a tree at all, but some kind of shelter that was made to _look_ like a tree. Thankfully, the entrance was found easily and thankfully, it was unlocked, which allowed Zane and Lloyd to enter.

The plants couldn't get in, but Zane could hear them banging on the metal walls.

"Where are we?" Lloyd asked out loud.

The tiny blond was set down on a table that was also made of metal and Zane found a First-Aid Kit under one of the two beds on the corner. It was needed for Lloyd's injuries. Pure alcohol was found inside the kit and Zane poured a little of the foul-smelling liquid on a ball of cotton before pressing it against one of the many punctures on Lloyd's tiny body. Lloyd winced and let out a muffled scream as he did so.

"I don't think the plants can come in," Zane told Lloyd, "so you have to stay in here while I go out and try to retrieve the others. Keep pressing this against your injuries to clean them. Once everybody's safe, I'll try and see what I can do."

Lloyd didn't say a word, but instead, he kept staring at Zane's arms, where the thorns scratched away his skin.

He looked more surprised and confused than worried, so Zane checked to see what he was looking at. Did he have some kind of weird markings on his arms or was there some gross slime on him or something?

There were no weird markings or anything like that, which Zane was thankful for, but where he got pierced by the thorns trying to save Lloyd, there was no blood but instead, something that upon closer inspection revealed itself to be metal.

Something was wrong…

He had to sit down.

No, wait, he had to go and get his friends. He had to go save his friends first, _then_ he could sit down.

He wasn't…

He wasn't _human_.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Jay mentally screaming at him.

 _Get over yourself! We have bigger issues out here and I can't breathe!_

Actually, Jay was being _so_ loud, Zane had to look around to see if he was inside the shelter, maybe hiding somewhere.

 _I'm on my way. Maybe I can coax these strange plants to…_

 _You can't! There's something else controlling them! I can hear it humming! I think it wants to eat us!_

 _I'm on my way! Stay where you are!_

Zane headed for the door, but he was abruptly stopped when he saw some rather strange blueprints on a table.

The machine looked like Zane.

Same features, same build, same _name_.

There was another blueprint for a robotic falcon.

No.

Zane couldn't breathe. He looked down and lifted up his shirt.

How did he not notice that panel on his chest before? Was it because it looks just like the rest of his skin, or was it because he was _programmed_ not to notice it?

There were so many questions running through his head.

The first thing he could remember was waking up a couple of thousand miles from this crazy forest.

Zane opened the panel in his chest, ignoring Lloyd's surprised gasp.

There were all kinds of switches and knobs inside, one for each function he had.

The humour switch was off, and he was going to leave it that way. There was a strange power-scourge that was glowing green above his memory switch, a switch that Zane was considering turning on, but decided against as well.

Turning the switch on would answer so many questions, like who he was, for instance.

But it wasn't necessary.

Zane closed the panel in his chest and left through the door, leaving behind Lloyd, telling him that he was going to be back with the others as soon as he was done calming the plants down.

He walked through the angry trees and shrubs and weeds, using his powers to calm them down.

All the way back to his friends.

Right where he left them.

Wrapped up in planty cocoons.

Right in front of him, there was a creature that had tree trunks for legs, readying itself to eat Zane's friends.

He knew what it was.

A treehorn. A vicious, blood-thirsty monster that was known to eat travellers that got lost in the woods and apparently had the ability to control plants, just like Zane.

The plants spat out Cole. Then Kai. Then Jay. Then the falcon.

They were okay. Just unconscious.

Zane turned his attention to the treehorn once it lowered itself down to eat Cole.

"Don't. You. Dare." Vines wrapped themselves around the treehorn's long, long legs. They wrapped themselves around the monster's body.

Kai made some weird, inhuman noise, proving that he wasn't dead.

The memory switch in Zane's chest popped into his mind again.

He didn't _have_ to turn it on. It didn't matter, at least, not to him.

With one simple movement, he had the ability to remember everything about his past, but he _already_ knew who he was. He was Zane.

The Master of Nature.

Sure, he _was_ a robot, and so was the falcon, but that didn't change a single thing. He's been a robot since the day he woke up so many miles away, all lost and confused, with no memory of his past.

Vines continued wrapping themselves around the treehorn.

Tighter and tighter.

Zane felt himself lift up into the air, hovering as if Jay was lifting him up with his telekinetic powers, but this was different.

Leaves spun around him, like a tornado of leaves. He could feel every plant around him, every vine and every root, as if they were extensions of himself.

It felt _amazing_.

Then the treehorn exploded in a gross green goo, and Zane dropped to the ground, just as covered in sludge as his friends. The plants stopped reaching out to grab everybody and started acting like normal plants, as if they had never come to life before. Zane had no explanation for what just happened, but it felt as if he had been locked up in a cage all of his life and had finally been set free.

Now all that was left to do was to carry his friends back to the tree, tend to their injuries, and explain what he found out once they woke up.

Cole was going to be so disappointed. Zane knew that his money was still on "fairy".

* * *

 **Italics and underline:** _Zane being telepathic_ _  
_

 **Italics:** _Jay being telepathic  
_

 **Poor Lloyd's probably scared of plants forever now. Maybe he'll try and get revenge on them by eating all of his vegetables LOL.  
**

 **Jay can use his telekinetic powers on himself if he tries real hard or gets very stressed. Zane won't turn on his memory switch until much later and the others (except for Lloyd, who's new, and the ninjas) knew that something was up with Zane the whole time, because he doesn't age, being a robot. They confronted him about this and had different theories on why he doesn't age, but robot wasn't on anyone's list.**

 **Please say in the reviews who you want to unlock their true potential next.  
**


	15. Aftermath

_**Zane**_

When Zane was back at the giant metal tree, Jay had turned a lovely shade of pink that went rather well with the rather violent shade of fuchsia that he dyed his hair with only a couple of days ago.

Cole was hugging the wall to keep from falling over from the laughter while Kai was having a very serious-looking conversation with Jay.

"… and that's where babies come from," Kai said in a serioustone.

At least his friends were back in the land of the waking again, but Zane wondered what brought on Kai's rather bizarre conversation with Jay.

"Ka(squeak)i! I kn(squeak)ow where ba(squeak)bies come from! A(squeak)nd you go(squeak)t it all wrong!" Jay was turning redder and redder with each squeak. "I d(squeak)idn't even as(squeak)k for you(squeak)r opin(squeak)ion!"

Cole was sliding down the wall, crying from laughter.

"What's going on here?" Zane asked Cole where he was helplessly laughing. "What's wrong with Jay?"

"His freaking voice is breaking!" Cole screeched. "He sounds like a rubber duck trying to speak!"

"May I say something?" Zane asked. "After you're done laughing?"

Cole nodded through the tears.

"I don't kn(squeak)ow why _you're_ la(squeak)ughing! _Yo_ (squeak) _ur_ voice bro(squeak)ke too wh(squeak)en you were my a(squeak)ge!" Jay yelled at Cole.

"Yeah, but not _that_ much!" Cole cried. "I can't breathe!"

"What did you mean when you said I got it all wrong?" Kai asked, clearly offended.

Cole couldn't speak anymore from laughing so hard.

Jay tried to say something, but he got frustrated and sat down, mouth shut and face red.

Cole looked like he wasn't going to stop laughing anytime soon.

Zane wondered when Cole was going to stop laughing so he could tell them what happened.

"May I speak now?" Zane asked.

Cole nodded, turning into Jay as he continued laughing.

An empty bucket flew at Cole and he slowly stopped laughing. "Ow."

Zane carefully explained how he found out that he was an android.

"You're a robot?" Kai asked.

"An android," Zane corrected. He was about to open the panel in his chest, but decided against it. It would be too strange.

"How didn't you kn…" Cole started to ask, but Zane interrupted him.

"I have a memory switch. Someone must have turned it off. There may be a reason for that, so I will respect their wishes." Zane pulled a leaf from his hair. "Oh, and there is another thing. When the treehorn attacked, something very strange happened."

Zane started explaining how he started glowing and floating before he controlled his plants with ease and squeezed the treehorn that attacked them until it exploded into a green goo.

Then Kai turned his attention back to Jay. "What did you mean when you said that I got it all wrong?"

Jay let out a stereotypical teenage groan, which made Cole start laughing again and caused the younger boy to seek solace in one of the bedrooms.

"So nobody is even a _little_ worried?" Zane asked, feeling slightly relieved that nobody was making any action to act any differently to him about the revelation that he was a robot, but also feeling a bit peeved that nobody was even _slightly_ worried about the glowing green floating experience he had.

"Are you going to join the robot uprising?" Kai asked, grabbing some of the spices that were in the cupboard in front of him.

"Um, no." Zane shook his head. "What robot uprising?"

"I'm not going to tell you, you might join them," Kai said as if it was obvious what robot uprising he was talking about.

"Where's Lloyd?" Zane asked, looking around for the group's young charge.

"He's under the table," Cole said, lifting the white tablecloth, revealing the young boy sleeping there. "Poor kid's all tuckered out."

Kai was now very seriously spicing something in front of him.

"I think we should give him to his uncle," Kai said in a very serious tone. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"But he doesn't want to _go_ to his uncle," Cole said, turning his purple eyes to the Master of Amber. "Remember what those ninjas did to him? They abandoned him to get vegetables thrown at him."

"He got hurt," Kai argued. "I'm sure that if we explain everything very politely and hand him over…"

 _He's pretending to be sleeping, guys._

Kai stopped talking, a clear sign that he heard Jay's voice in his head as well, and both he and Cole looked guilty.

Zane lifted the tablecloth and gently shook Lloyd. He looked like he wanted to cry, poor guy. His eyes were tightly shut and so was his mouth, but he was clearly awake.

Cole and Kai stuck their heads under the table as well.

"Kiddo, we know you're awake," Kai said. "I'm sorry about wanting to send you to stay with your uncle, but I think it would be better if we did. You almost _died_ today."

Lloyd opened his eyes and angrily turned them to Kai. "So did everybody else!"

"How about this?" Kai asked, putting a gloved hand on Lloyd's shoulder, "Just until we can find a more permanent place to stay, you go stay with your uncle. Just one week; If you don't like it, just give us a call and we'll come get you and never make you stay with him again if we can help it."

Lloyd angrily shook his head. "No! You're going to leave me there and never come back for me, just like my mom did!"

Cole turned back into his regular form and sighed. "Look, as much as I hate to admit it, Kai's kind of right. We're just kids ourselves. Kai and I are both sixteen, Jay's only fourteen and for all we know, Zane's six. We like… fifteen bits, and that's when we put all our money together. We don't have jobs anymore and I don't know about you guys, and Jay, that means you too, but I don't think it's a good idea to live in a giant metal tree near a flock… herd… something of treehorns with mutant powers that might attack us at any time we try to leave. We'll come back for you, okay? As soon as we get new jobs and manage to get our hands on a place that allows birds and kids, we're coming back for you."

Lloyd turned around and mumbled something under his breath.

A fourth face appeared right next to Cole, who turned into an unknown older man in a suit with a black moustache and painfully neat black hair in surprise.

When the shapeshifter realised what he'd done, he turned back into himself as angrily as possible.

"I _hate_ it when that happens." Cole got up and dusted his shirt off.

"Maybe I co(squeak)uld tr(squeak)y to f(squeak)ix your falcon," Jay suggested. "It's all busted, but its st(squeak)ill fixable, ri(squeak)ght?"

Zane nodded quietly.

"Maybe we should send _you_ to his uncle too," Kai suggested to Jay. "The old man and his ninjas are very busy and I don't think they can take care of a little kid all the time, and my sister's that samurai thing, so I'm pretty sure that she's busy too."

Jay shrugged. "I gue(squeak)ss I could go wi(squeak)th him. I mean, you're getti(squeak)ng a lot better at control(squeak)ing your powers."

"Just like you and your squeaky voice?" Cole teased.

"No, more like you turning into your dad whenever you freak out," Jay huffily retorted, no longer squeaking. "Hey! It stopped!"

"I think your voice squeaking like that may have come from one of the plants that had attacked you," Zane told Jay. "Some species of plant do that."

"So I didn't need to have "the talk" with him?" Kai asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Like I said, Kai, I already know that and you had it _extremely_ wrong." Jay fluffed his hair like some kind of southern lady, which earned him a giggle from Lloyd, and adjusted his collar. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go fix that falcon."

The youngest teenager removed himself from under the table and put himself on top of it, making a lot of noise as he looked for something.

"Um, buddy, what are you doing?" Kai asked, removing himself from under the table as well.

"I'm looking for baking soda," Jay said in a casual tone. "I don't think there _is_ any, though."

Cole removed himself from under the table, and soon, so did Lloyd.

Zane was the last to remove himself.

"So when should we take them to the sensei?" Zane asked as Jay let out a disappointed sigh when he found out that the little box he found wasn't baking soda, but expired candy.

Cole dodged as the box of expired candy was thrown near his head.

Jay jumped off the table and stuck his head under the sink while Kai went back to his cooking.

"I don't know… tomorrow, I guess," Cole said, sticking his hand into the box of candy and trying one. "They're still good, want one?"

A candy in a wrapper flew out of the box and into Jay's hand where he was sitting while Lloyd hesitantly took one too.

Zane didn't feel like candy either and Kai was glaring at Cole for offering candy to everybody while he was busy making dinner, so there was a chance that he didn't want any either.

"Zane, could you grow some of that corn, please?" Kai asked, pointing at a bag of chicken corn that was sitting in the corner, covered in at least fifty years of dust and cobwebs.

Zane took a handful of the corn that was waiting to be planted and stuck them in a pot of dirt before using his powers on the kernels.

The seeds shot up from tiny little leaves to fully mature stalks with ripe ears in seconds and allowed Kai to pick a couple with ease.

"Grow a dinosaur plant!" Jay squealed from under the sink, reminding everybody that he was still the youngest of them, after Lloyd.

"Dinosaurs don't come from plants," Zane explained patiently. "They come from eggs and are extinct."

Jay sighed and removed himself from under the sink and jumped up on the counter to look in the cabinet.

"So, what does baking soda have to do with fixing my falcon?" Zane asked.

"Baking soda's good for getting rid of rust." Jay sighed. "We don't have any."

"Rust or baking soda?" Kai asked.

Jay rolled his eyes and left again.

In the morning, the two youngest of the group and the three elder ones of the group would be separated until a more permanent home could be found, along with a job for each of them.

Hopefully the ninjas would be nice enough to allow them to stay…

* * *

 **Sorry I didn't update this guy for a while, was having a bad case of the writer's block involving this story. Please say in the reviews who you want to see unlocking their True Potential next:  
**

 **Kai, Skylor, Cole, Karloff, Griffin, Jay or Ash**


	16. Runaway

_**Lloyd**_

It was around midnight when Jay woke him up by throwing an empty backpack at him.

"Get up. We have to get going soon."

Lloyd made a moaning sound, but he allowed Jay to pick him up and help him pick out what they were taking with them when they went to live with Uncle Wu and the ninjas.

"You're only taking one extra pair of shoes, Lloyd." Jay rolled up a pair of Lloyd's bright green socks and stuffed them in one of his sneakers. "We can come back for the rest of our stuff later, or one of the others will bring it once we let them know where we are."

"How are we going to tell them?" Lloyd asked as he threw one of Kai's shirts across the room to get to his jacket at the bottom of the bag. "Nobody has a phone."

Kai's shirt seemingly folded up by itself while Jay threw everything out of Cole's bag to find his own things.

The stuffed bear the woman from three months gave him when shopping with Cole plopped to the ground with a soft thud along with the rest of the stuff in Cole's bag.

Lloyd almost forgot he had it.

Everything on the ground started floating up, including Lloyd.

"Jay!"

Jay didn't seem to hear him. In fact, he didn't seem to hear anything. Lloyd screamed louder, hoping that somebody would hear and come in to get himself down from the ceiling and maybe get Jay to calm down about whatever was wrong with the dumb bear.

Speaking of the bear, it was the only thing that didn't float all the way to the ceiling, along with Jay, who was the only thing on the floor.

"How did _you_ get here?" Jay asked, apparently talking to the bear. "Did you _follow_ me?"

Lloyd tried to get down, but it was like something was pressing him against the ceiling, keeping him from going for help and keeping him from trying to calm the older boy down enough to stop the floating madness that was going on in the living room.

"Where'd you get her?" Jay asked all of a sudden, looking up at Lloyd with an amazed expression on his face. "I didn't have her with me when they took me away from my parents…"

Before Lloyd had the chance to answer, everything was put back where they were before Jay freaked out about the bear, and he was lowered onto the couch.

The bear, however, was getting the stuffing squeezed out of it by Jay, who seemed to be crying over it. He kept asking Lloyd where he got the bear over and over again, like a broken record.

It was distressing, seeing his friend acting like that.

"A lady gave the bear to me when Cole took me to get some clothes," Lloyd told Jay, who had curled himself up into a sad little ball on the ground. "I think she lost her kid or he ran away or something, so she and her husband brought his stuff in for donation… she ran off with the box…"

"I didn't…" Jay words trailed off into the unintelligible.

"Are you okay?" Lloyd tried reaching out to the older boy, but it was absolutely no trouble for him to use his powers to pick him up and gently carry him to the other end of the room.

"Should I go get someone to help?" Lloyd asked, getting ready to go and wake Cole or Zane (Kai would not be a good choice) if things escalated. "Should I get Cole or Zane?"

Jay shook his head, as if he was coming out of a dream, and put the bear in his bag. "No, I'm fine, why don't you go get your toothbrush while I finish up in here?"

Lloyd was uncertain about leaving Jay alone, because of his earlier freakout, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to convince the mind-reader to let him stay. "Okay. Should I get yours too?"

"Sure, thanks. It's the blue one."

Lloyd almost considered waking up Cole to get his help, but then again, Jay seemed fine now.

He took his and Jay's toothbrushes from where they were by the sink and hurried back to help finish the packing, but when he got there, everything was already in their respective backpacks, ready for them to leave. All that was needed were the toothbrushes.

"So are we going to say bye to the others?"

Jay looked like Lloyd just suggested they set themselves on fire or go and bother some killer bees while covered in honey. "They're sleeping. We have to get out of here before they wake up."

"Are you running away?" Lloyd made himself ready to go and wake someone. "You can't do that, you have to take me to my uncle! THIS IS KIDNAPPING!"

 _Calm down, nobody's kidnapping anyone. But if you keep screaming like that, I'm going to have to knock you out. You'll wake all of Ninjago with that racket._

Lloyd tried to run to Cole's room to get him to help, but before he was even close to the door, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his skull, causing everything around him to go completely dark.

Next thing he knew, he was sitting in a bus, with his backpack by his feet and Jay sitting next to him, fiddling with his collar.

"Morning, kiddo," Jay greeted, almost as if what happened earlier didn't even happen. "How'd you sleep?"

"Why are we on a bus?" Lloyd looked around. "What's the time? What did you do?!"

Jay continued pressing the buttons on his collar as he answered. "You almost woke the others, so I knocked you out. I _told_ you to stop that racket. And now, because you didn't listen, I have to reset my collar again."

Jay muttered some curses as he continued his fiddling. "You _do_ know that I'm an impressionable eight year-old, right?" Lloyd scolded. "What are you going to tell my uncle and the others when I pick up cursing?"

"To mind their own damn business," Jay answered, obviously not caring. "I'm going to have to fix my collar later…"

Lloyd opened his mouth to ask what was wrong with the collar, but he had a feeling that it would be an unwelcome question.

Then the weirdness started.

"Mommy, the snakes are kicking people off the bus," a tiny voice cried out from the front area of the bus.

The mother didn't seem to believe her kid, but he was quickly proven to be telling the truth when a pair of scaly red claws grabbed Lloyd and Jay, throwing them both out of the bus, along with every other human they could find.

"See, mommy?" the little boy aid smugly. " _Snakes_."

Lloyd actually wanted to slap that smug little kid. Then one of the ninjas appeared.

If memory served correctly, his name was Griffin something.

Very politely, he helped the confused and frightened people calm down and checked to see if any of them were hurt or got bitten by one of the Serpentine.

In the meantime, Jay was sprinting after the bus, screaming about their bags.

"Come back here, you thieves!"

His screaming and running was stopped, thankfully, when the bus stopped and the two bags were thrown at him, along with everything in said bags. Griffin hurried over to see if he was okay, which Lloyd wasn't so sure of himself, considering that the older boy had not gotten up since he had the bags thrown at him.

That was why he ran after Griffin with his short little legs going as fast as they could.

Griffin immediately recognised both him and Jay.

"What… How… What are you two doing here?!"

"Concussion…" Jay mumbled, groaning as he sat up. "Looking for you… Uncle Lloyd… Ma… Mom… Up since midnight… headache… ow…"

Griffin studied both of their expressions. "I didn't get any of that."

Jay shook his head wildly, then he stood up and handed Lloyd his bag. "We were looking for you. We're going to stay with you guys now."

The white ninja glared at him. "No, you're not."

"Okay." Griffin clearly didn't expect Jay to give up so quickly, and walk away, and to be honest, neither did Lloyd.

"You're just going to accept that?" Griffin watched as Jay combed his fingers through his newly dyed pink hair. "You're not going to demand to talk to Skylor or whoever?"

Jay shook his head again, smiling. "Nope. I don't know about kiddo here, but I know how to survive on the streets. Kai and I did _just fine_ before we ran into Cole and Zane, and I was doing great that one time I got separated from them for a while."

Lloyd ran after Jay. "We're going to live on the streets now? Why can't we go back to the woods?"

When Lloyd turned his head to see if Griffin was still there, he saw someone who was clearly having a moral dilemma.

"We can't go back to the woods because it's too far, and there are those tree-monsters running around in it." Jay hopped over a crack in the concrete.

Griffin audibly groaned behind them. _Right_ behind them.

"Fine, you two can come to the Bounty with me. But you better not cause trouble!"

The two of them nodded innocently. "We won't," they said together.

Griffin groaned again and brought out his golden shrukens, throwing them up in the air, where they promptly turned into a bike.

"Wow!" Lloyd ran over to get a better look at the magical bike-weapon. "How did you do that?!"

"That doesn't look very safe…"

However, Jay's protests didn't do much to make the bike safer.

In fact, before he even had the chance to protest, he was picked up and gently set on the bike, right behind Griffin, while Lloyd was in the front. The bike moved very smoothly, as if they were flying through the thin air. It was the coolest thing in all of Ninjago.

It didn't even take that long to get to the Bounty (which was a huge ship in the middle of the Sea of Sands) because the bike was so fast.

"Everyone else is out on patrol," Griffin told Jay, who was still clinging on to the White Ninja for dear life, "and Morro's out at the library. Let go of me before I freeze you to the wall."

Very quickly, Jay let go of Griffin and looked up at the ship. "Wow, she's huge."

"Lloyd, I'm sorry, but your uncle isn't here right now. He went to get help with the Serpentine problem, but he'll be back pretty soon, I'm sure."

The little blond boy nodded. "Okay. Can we explore the ship now?"

Griffin froze at the question, as if he hadn't expected it, but he (hesitantly) nodded.

And so, Lloyd was abroad the ship, running around and exploring every room he could find and throwing everything out of every closet to see if there were any secret hiding spots for treasure, like back at Darkly's.

So far, there were none.

But he _did_ get a shocked look from Jay when he accidently threw a giant leather jacket into his face.

"Oh no…"

* * *

 **Somebody's going to get very grounded. The person who made the mess, and the person who brought the mess to the ship.**

 **Let's just hope that the other ninjas are going to be nice about Jay and Lloyd staying with them.  
**


	17. Amber

_**Kai (10 months ago)**_

When he first met _those two_ , Jay had just been kidnapped by some guys in weird robes, so he was just a tad more unstable than normal, with headaches caused by the memories in his head that didn't make any sense, with voices accompanying said memories, none of them him, but all the same, very overwhelming. He covered himself up with whatever he could find once he realized that his powers worked through skin contact, but with Jay gone, there wasn't much that could be done about the voices and contradicting memories.

That was why, as soon as the one with the white hair accidentally bumped into him when _he_ was looking at hunting knives (it was a hunting store), he had the other teenager by the arm, holding him against the floor with a hunting knife against his throat.

"What's _wrong_ with you?!" the other boy yelled, trying to pull Kai away from his friend, only to get stabbed in the shoulder for his efforts.

"One more word, and the knife goes in your buddy's _head_ next," Kai hissed as the other boy screamed in pain.

He couldn't have the two of them freaking out. He needed a good knife, and if the people at the store thought that he was insane or something, they wouldn't let him buy one.

Maybe he should get _two_. Maybe more.

Kai tended to lose his knives by forgetting where he put them, forgetting to take it out after he stabbed something, and sometimes, Jay would take them from him and refuse to give them back. He needed to arm himself if he was going to go after whoever took Jay this time.

He discovered their base of operations, with guards in long, white robes, armed with machine guns, always standing by, always ready to attack anyone who tried to break in. He in the shadows of the weird collection of buildings, watching them and watching for a place to sneak in and get back the _one_ person who could help him.

He almost forgot that he was still in the hunting store, but thankfully, his hostage kicked him in the stomach to remind him. It would've hurt _more_ if Kai didn't wear that bulletproof vest he stripped off that one cop who tried to take him in earlier, but it still surprised him enough for him to briefly let go of the white-haired teen.

In order to keep them both down, even for a little while, Kai smacked the guy who kicked him against the floor, hard enough to knock him out, then he used the duct tape sitting on the shelf by him to keep the other guy from screaming some more, wrapping him and his friend in a silver cocoon before going to the teller to buy an armful of knives.

"Sheez, but you're _really_ going hunting," the lumberjack-like man with a beard like a jungle commented when he saw the knives. "How many guys are you going with?"

"Twenty-one," Kai grunted from behind the scarf obscuring his face.

"Large party…" the man muttered as he rang up the costs.

"Huntin' monsters," Kai gruffly told the man. "Going to kill 'em all."

"Then you're going to need some traps and rope," the man said helpfully. "Do you have a gun or do you need to check out _those_ too?"

"Traps and rope," Kai told the man, doing a pretty good job of fooling the man into thinking that he was older than he really was. "Crossbow."

He _considered_ a gun, a _good_ one, but the man might ask him for a license, and sadly, Kai didn't have one. A crossbow was a much safer bet, and he knew how to use one.

"Bolts?"

"We're not going to shoot the knives," Kai told the man. "Gimme fifty."

"With the knives, the crossbow and the bolts," the man said, as he punched the numbers into the calculator, "it's three-hundred bits."

Kai pulled out his money-sock and emptied it out on in front of the surprised man. Coins, bills and a couple of stamps and photos fell out. He counted the money out for the man, then he shoved the rest back into the sock, putting it away in his coat pocket again.

He ignored the confused lumberjack-man as he left the store with his purchases and instead, walked straight to his bike, the bike he got from the same cop he took the bulletproof vest from, and put them in the side-car with the rest of his stuff, stuff that would usually include Jay.

He re-painted the bike and the helmet, as it used to be a police bike, turning it from blue and white to red and orange blue with blue flames going up the sides. The licence plate, he switched with another bike long the way to avoid getting caught, much to Jay's telepathic protests.

But he kept the siren.

It make him feel… _cool_ … when he had the lights flashing as he chased after whatever bad guy the mysterious employer paid him to go after.

Jay changed the colours so they would flicker all the brightness of a Christmas tree when Kai turned the sirens on, which was considerably _less_ cool, but kept the origins of the bike from being discovered.

Kai locked the sidecar and started to drive off, only to find himself grabbed from behind by the guy who he knocked against the floor like a hammer. At first he thought that it was Jay, who had escaped from his captors and somehow found him, but sadly, he still had to go up that mountain to get his little friend back.

Without giving the strange boy even the slightest bit of warning, Kai started trying to throw the other boy off his bike, driving as if he wanted his non-existent licence revoked.

 _Damn_ , but this guy could hold on to a person.

"Why! Aren't! You! Falling! Off!"

"You have to apologise for stabbing my friend!" the boy screamed in-between all the twists and turns the bike made. "Where did you even get your license?!"

Kai just laughed at that question.

He could see the other boy turn pale behind him. "Could you stop so I can get off this death-trap, please?"

"Did I _ever_ strike you as the kind of guy who stops _just_ because you said _please_?" he asked, raising his eyebrow in amusement. "You want to get off, you _jump_."

"What?!"

" _Or_ , I can _throw_ you off."

Then, something weird happened.

The plants growing along the sides of the road started moving, reaching out to him, trying to grab him.

Kai dodged the plants really well, actually. Maybe it was his own skills, maybe it was the skills he copied off of someone he touched in the past, but he got through with very little trouble, which seemed to upset the guy who was clinging on to him for dear life, which would end if he didn't let go soon.

"My friend is injured!" the boy screamed. "Because of _you_!"

"Is he dead?" Kai asked, slowing down a little. "If he's dead, I'll stop for a second, but if he's alive, I'm going to _throw_ you off and let your puny little human neck break."

Kai stopped the bike a little too quickly and a little too suddenly for his unwanted and uncomfortable passenger to hold on tight enough, causing the poor guy to go flying through the air, saved from death by the quick thinking of a nearby tree.

"You're not human?" the strange boy asked, climbing down from the tree that caught him.

Kai climbed off the bike, not answering the boy.

Not sure _what_ the answer was.

"My friend is okay, he was just a little surprised at being stabbed," the boy provided. "I _did_ say that I was sorry for walking into you. There was no _need_ to attack either of us."

There _really_ wasn't. All Kai had to do was the breathing exercises Jay made him do whenever he was doing spring cleaning in Kai's head, and he wouldn't have gone into kill-mode the second he was touched, and they didn't even make skin contact!

Muttering something that probably didn't _sound_ like an apology, Kai considered taking the strange boy back to the store where they met, so he could be with his injured friend and maybe help him, but he _really_ didn't have the time.

He got back on his bike and started driving again, hoping that he wouldn't be too late.

He ignored the voice of the strange boy he was leaving behind in the snowy cold who was yelling at him for leaving him behind to die, and he ignored the strange memories and voices in his head, trying their darnest to make him loose his temper.

Usually, Jay would keep them calm, so Kai rarely let him go too far out of his sight, but about two weeks ago, the smaller boy was out of his sight for five very short minutes while they were doing grocery shopping in a way only two teenage boys with no adults could do.

He heard the screams too late.

Now, he was knocking out a cultist who he managed to lure a little bit too far for the others to hear him screaming so he could steal his hooded robe, which would allow him to blend in with the group.

It appeared that the man didn't wear anything underneath his robes but his boxers, and Kai wasn't a monster, so he put the man in a housecoat he took from Ronin last time they met up to keep him warm while he was tied to the bike, which, in turn, was chained to a very sturdy elm.

Kai was at the entrance of the base within the blink of an eye.

The guards let him in without a word.

He noticed the cameras.

He noticed the gasoline bottles standing ready.

He heard the cultists talking to each other, in low voices, some concerned, others less concerned, about the fact that they were going to be setting someone on fire later that night.

"It's just a little boy," a female voice whispered to her friend, "and we're going to kill him for something that he can't even help…"

"It's a _monster_ pretending to be human," the woman's friend shot back, unaware that Kai was eavesdropping on them. "They say that there are many more like him. Other… _unnatural_ … things… If we kill them while they're still young, then their unnaturalness won't be able to stay in Ninjago. Those "ninjas", they're no different from this thing, they're just worse at hiding it."

Kai ran on, knowing that Jay _had_ to be kept in the room that was better guarded than the others.

A memory told him that the reason he was pushing so hard to safe the younger boy was because of another person he couldn't save, his sister, the memory provided, who was taken by skeletons right before the stress of being nearly choked to death by their leader, Samukai, caused his powers to awaken.

The guards were taken down with short, quick stabs with the knives he brought, and anyone who tried to stop him had a knife thrown at them with pinpoint accuracy.

The cultists either didn't realize that he would run out of knives at one point (after all, he only brought thirty-eight), or they decided not to risk getting killed by the final knife in his arsenal, because pretty soon, they stopped coming to him to try and pull him away.

Inside the room, which he entered much more easily than he expected, there was some kind of pavilion, bug enough to fit all the cultists living on the base, with a stake in the middle of it.

In the corner, there was a cage that either held a mid-sized dog, or a regular-sized Jay.

It was empty.

Neither dog not Jay could be found inside the cage. The stake was soaked with gasoline, but unused.

"You're his friend, aren't you?" the same soft female voice from before asked, startling Kai. "The one who was going to come and get him out. He told me all about you."

The woman looked nervous, so Kai didn't doubt her. "What happened to him?"

"He… he got away." The woman gave him an obviously forced smile. "You missed him by one hour. He didn't tell me where he was going. I think he went looking for you."

Then Kai hit the hard ground.

There was a flash of steel, blood, and then, some familiar screaming.

The boy from the store. The guy who stowed away on his bike's buddy.

In fact, _both_ of them were there.

The woman fled the moment Kai threw the one he stabbed through the wall. The other one was distracted by the need to help his friend, giving Kai the perfect chance to escape through the perfect-sized hole on the wall, worried about his own friend, hurrying to find him before he was lost forever.

* * *

 **It's a little hard to explain how exactly the element of Amber works, since the show doesn't really explain it. I think of it as similar to Rogue from the X-men series, but without accidentally killing or hurting people when it's used. Please enjoy!  
**


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